Four Weddings and Seventy Hangover Potions
by MuggleBeene
Summary: Professor Muggle and Melody have four children. These are the stories of their weddings, including the preparation and the parties afterwards. Part of the Professor Muggle story series.
1. HR & Lily: Before the Official Wedding

**Chapter 1: HR & Lily: Before the (Official) Wedding**

_2025_

The early morning weather was perfect at The Burrow, better than the previous few days would have predicted. Yes, the ground was somewhat mushy in spots but George, Ron and Bill Weasley had completed a series of spells, charms and enchantments that returned the surface to a perfect level of dryness. Hopefully the weather would hold off until after next week, because if it was raining then, well, things would be interesting to say the least. I offered to help, but as Ron reminded me, I'm Professor Muggle and only 1.3% wizard. Since my offer of work was done I did what I wanted to do anyway, skive off working and smoke a cigar.

I watched my wife walk out of The Burrow and head towards me, her glasses on the top of her head and a look that said I was in for another in-depth conversation about things that, if I'm honest, I really didn't care about. Yes, my son was marrying Lily Potter, but it was just going to be a family and friends ceremony; after all, they'd both snuck out of a party at The Burrow and got married without telling anyone. It had taken me a little while to get used to the idea that my son was married, but Melody took it a lot harder than she let on. I'd already endured a number of conversations about stuff that I considered completely female stuff, which in the grand scheme of things really didn't matter to me. I anticipated a conversation about the proper procession order or something, but as usual I was wrong.

"Hank, have you seen _The Prophet_ today?" She held out the paper towards me, and shook her head. "I swear those people have nothing better to do."

"Um, it's their job, Mel. Let me see."

After taking the paper from her I took a look at the front page, and not seeing anything I turned to the next page and saw exactly what bothering her.

**Boy Who Lived's Only Daughter to Marry Professor Muggle's Son**

**The Daily Prophet has learned that Lily Luna Potter, only daughter of Harry and Ginny Potter, will marry Hieronymus Robert Boyd, only son of Melody and Hank Boyd, on Saturday, July 19****th**** at the Weasley family home in Ottery St. Catchpole. The wedding is sure to be event of the summer, as a veritable who's who of the Wizarding world will obviously be attending the event. While no official announcement has been made, readers can be assured that this newspaper will provide full coverage in our special wedding edition.**

I lifted my head from the paper and looked at my wife. "A special edition? Have the Potters seen this yet?"

Melody shrugged. "I don't know, Hank, but I have a feeling the small, family wedding is out of the question now."

Later that afternoon I found myself in my office at home or Colony House as George called it. When Melody and I had first moved in, years ago, he called it the American Muggle Colony and the name stuck. Our Stintborough house was still fairly full despite my son's transfer of most of his belongings to his new place. He and Lily had moved into the flat above George's shop until they could afford to find a place of their own, and even though Melody wasn't happy about having him move out of the house, she was happy that he was going to be very close. Well, they'd technically moved in, as Ginny had insisted that Lily stay with her and Harry until after the "official" ceremony. HR had already gone ahead and moved, an event that resulted in more than a few tears from Melody.

I looked over at the wall covered with family photos and watched them move; it seemed strange to think that my son was married to Lily Potter, well, Lily Boyd now, and that we'd be going through an "official" ceremony soon. The ceremony was Ginny's idea, as she was bound and determined to see her only daughter get married. I looked over at the picture of Melody and I on our wedding day so long ago, looking much younger as we stood on the stairway at Hogwarts. Hell, I even had some hair back then. We were waving in the picture, and I gave Melody the start of a very memorable kiss. That was the picture that had embarrassed all of our children at some point. My eyes began following the progression of pictures, Hieronymus' birth, Virginia's birth and then the surprise of Hermione and Minerva. A picture of Hieronymus with Gin when she was little, about the time that we started calling Hieronymus "HR" because Gin couldn't say his name, HR and Gin with the twins after we'd brought them back from St. Mungo's, and then the succession of Hogwart's uniform pictures. HR proudly wore his Hufflepuff scarf and waved his wand at the camera, Gin in her Slytherin green, Minnie in her Ravenclaw colors with her arm around Mione in her Gryffindor scarf. Neville had always teased me that my kids had to end up in every house to dispel any favoritism, but I'm proud that they all have managed, so far anyway, to forge their own identities outside of being the children of the Muggle Studies professor.

It was oddly quiet at the house, as usually someone was about playing music, watching television or visiting with the school friends that always seemed to end up over at our place. I couldn't count the times that I would wake up on a Saturday and find extra mouths ready for breakfast, but I didn't mind. I was glad that they all felt comfortable enough to stay over, and to be honest Melody and I were happy to know that our kids weren't completely embarrassed to be around their parents, especially with my lack of magical abilities. I had just got up from my desk to turn on some music when I heard a knock at the door, so I figured it must be someone about the wedding. I was right, but it wasn't who I expected.

"Lily, nice to see you. I'm afraid HR isn't here."

"I know, Professor Muggle. Are you busy?"

"Not at all, come on in, Lily. Let's go to my office."

As we walked to my office I noticed that she was very quiet, something that was unlike Lily. She was definitely chatty enough when she had my classes, not to mention all the other times she and HR had been over at the house, so I knew that something was up. After sitting down I looked over to her. "Lily, I think you can stop calling me Professor Muggle now. You're out of Hogwarts, and I'm your father-in-law. No worries about taking away House points."

"Is it ok if I call you Dad?"

I looked over at the beautiful, red-haired young woman who I'd known all of her life and smiled. "Of course. Now what's on your mind?'

Her small frame took a deep sigh and she looked up at me with an intent gaze. "Since _The Prophet_ published our wedding date Mum's decided that instead of a small, family wedding…well, as small as a Potter and Weasley family wedding could be, that we're doing the big production. Mum and Melody are at The Burrow right now going over the guest list, and it's going to be around three hundred people."

"Lily, you promised your mother that whatever she wanted you would go along with it. You know how much it hurt her that you and HR got married and she wasn't there. You're her only daughter." _Not to mention how much it pained Melody and me as well._

Lily nodded her head and looked over at the photos on the wall. "I know."

I watched as Lily absentmindedly began turning her small gold wedding ring over and over on her finger, a sign I knew well. "What else is on your mind, Lily? I know that you don't play with your jewelry unless you're worried."

She stopped suddenly and looked at me. "You know that? How?"

"Muggle Studies. You used to do that when I was calling on students and you didn't know the answers. Usually happened right before a big Quidditch game, if I remember correctly."

"Prof…um, Dad? I'm worried about HR."

"You can't be worried that he won't want to go through with the ceremony? You already did that once." _That couldn't be the case, as HR has been in love with Lily ever since he was about six years old. _

"No, that's not it. It's just, well, one of the reasons we got married like we did was to keep HR from being drafted. I overheard HR and James talking at The Burrow, and James is going to enlist soon…I'm afraid HR is going to get caught up in things and enlist with James." She sat on the edge of her chair and looked at me pleadingly. "Talk some sense into him, he can't go off to war!"

_The war. The topic that nobody really wanted to discuss but was hanging over everything. The WLF had become an umbrella organization for all of those witches and wizards who wanted to get rid of Muggles forever, and they'd started forming armies years ago, but now open warfare was happening in several countries. The UK had started forming a magical army last year, and I'd watched several of my former students join, namely Hugo Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy. War fever had gripped the country; patriotism was the rule of the day and all over people were nervous. Now my new daughter-in-law was trying to keep her new husband from joining the ranks._

"Dad? You're doing it again."

I took off my glasses and ran my hand over my bald head. I was famous in class for zoning out, and all of my former students and friends enjoyed teasing me about it. The look on Lily's face said that she was definitely not enjoying our conversation.

"I can't make up his mind for him, Lily. He's of age, and he's your husband. I think this should be a conversation that you two should have. And for the record, I'll always be here for you, but I don't think it would be a good idea to put me in the middle, do you?

Before another word could be said the sounds of the twins entering the house in their normal, boisterous manner could be heard. I made sure to say it quickly, before the twins entered. "I won't say anything to HR or anybody else about this conversation, Lily. Just find some time and tell HR how you're feeling. I'm sure the two of you can work things out."

"DAD! ARE YOU HOME?"

"In the office, Mione!"

"Mum said that you…Lily!"

I watched my blonde-headed daughter run up and hug her new sister-in-law.

"Lily's here?" Minnie walked in and her strawberry blonde hair swung behind her as she too gave Lily a hug.

"Girls, give her some space. Now, Mione, what did your Mom say?

It was like I wasn't even there as my thirteen year old daughters began peppering Lily with questions about the ceremony, her dress and all sorts of things. Finally I'd had enough. "Hermione Helen and Minerva Lane, would you both be quiet for a second?"

The twins looked over at me and then Mione whispered to Minnie, rather loudly, "he's using the Dad voice. We'd better listen for a bit."

I shook my head at the girls and Lily laughed. I gave her my best Professor stare, but she shrugged. "Like you said, I'm not at Hogwarts anymore."

"Ok, fine. Now, Mione, what did your mother want you to tell me?"

"She's staying over at the Potters for supper and we're supposed to bring you over there."

I looked over at Lily, who seemed resigned to hours of wedding planning, then to the twins. "Ok, then, let's go."

* * *

><p>Later that evening I found myself in Harry Potter's study, drinking a butterbeer and talking with Harry and Ron Weasley. The Weasleys, well, Ron, Hermione and Rose anyway, had joined us at Grimmauld Place for supper. As usual, Lily and Kreacher had prepared the meal. Even after all this time I was still amazed that Kreacher let Lily help with the cooking, but I suppose at his advanced age he didn't mind the help. Ginny had commented once that Kreacher was almost as proud of Lily's cooking as her Grandmum Molly was, so I guess there was also some pride involved for Kreacher as well. It was with a very full stomach that I found myself talking about what seemed the only other topic besides the wedding, the war.<p>

Ron sat in a large leather chair and looked over at Harry. "I suppose you heard about my transfer, you being head of the Aurors and all."

Harry ran his hand through his salt and pepper hair, showing his famous scar briefly. "Signed off on the paperwork earlier this morning, actually."

"Transfer?" I looked over at Ron. "Where you going?"

"Strategic Command Corps. They're the lot that's in charge of troops and resources. As of tomorrow morning I'll be in the army." Ron looked down at his butterbeer, then up to Harry and me. "Scary part is later tonight when I tell Hermione. I'm not sure how she'll take it. Took her a good week before she could look at Hugo without crying. You know, I thought we'd never go through anything like this after we got rid of Voldemort."

"He's back bigger than ever, though. Have you seen the propaganda coming in from Switzerland?" Harry looked over at me. "The Wizarding Liberation Front is using Voldemort as a martyr figure."

Harry must have noticed the shocked look on my face, as he said "He's not really back, they're just using his image on propaganda and saying that he and the Death Eaters were the first freedom fighters for true Wizard rule."

"Is this a private party?" James Potter walked in and sat down on the only available chair in the study. "If so, I'm crashing it. Any more butterbeers?"

Ron laughed and levitated a butterbeer over to James out of the small refrigerator in the corner of the study.

"Thanks, Uncle Ron. They're wearing me out down there."

I couldn't resist, so I winked at Harry and looked at his eldest son. "Too much girl stuff?"

James made a disgusted noise and nodded. "Completely. Women are mental when it comes to weddings. Grandmum Molly didn't make George do another ceremony, so I don't see why Mum's making Lily do it. And HR, of course. The only thing that saved me from giving an opinion on whether or not the forks for the reception should have three or four tines was that Al showed up and the twins almost knocked over the table to go see him."

I laughed along with everybody else. It was common knowledge that both Minnie and Mione thought that Al Potter was the greatest thing in the world. After I'd started a theater group at Hogwarts Al had been one of my first volunteers, and his acting abilities landed him the male lead in most productions. The twins had been around him all of their lives, but suddenly seeing him on stage as Romeo sealed it in their minds, and now there was no person in the world in their eyes to equal Al. As Al had been sorted into Hufflepuff he'd come over to Colony House quite often, usually to raid my books, and from the moment he would arrive the twins would be his shadow. I was glad that the twins had picked someone like Al to have a schoolgirl crush on, as he always treated them very well, never acting like they were little kids who were bothering him. Now that he was in George's WeasleyVision Wizarding Movies, well, they weren't the only teenage girls drooling over Al Potter.

I pushed my glasses onto the top of my head and looked over to James. "So what's the latest with Al? I haven't heard from him lately."

"Well, he's been in Ireland shooting another movie. Something about a hippogriff."

Ron's eyes locked into James, "Still under contract to Puddlemere? You could sign with the Cannons, you know. We're not a last place team anymore. We could use a Beater with your talent."

"Yeah, you're second to last. Sorry, Uncle Ron. Still got three more years on my contract."

"Holy crap, the party's in here."

I recognized that voice, it was my son. HR and Al walked in, conjured chairs and sat down. Before they could ask James levitated two butterbeers over to them. I watched as HR and Al took long drinks and shook their heads.

"Had enough planning tonight, boys?" Harry looked over at me and smiled, then back to his son and his new son-in-law."

"You can say that again. Mum and Ginny have decided that since this is going to be a big deal we have to dress accordingly. Um, Dad? Mum wants to know if you can take us to all get kilts." HR shook his head. "Mum says that Grammy Boyd told her it's a family tradition, and you got married in your kilt, so it's the least we can do for her at her age."

"Yes, tell your mother that I'll take you and the wedding party to go get kilts and everything else tomorrow morning. I'm just glad McPherson makes kilts the Wizarding way. Takes forever to make one the Muggle way."

Al looked over at me, and then to Harry. "I think I might be up for a part in one of the Highlander Wizarding Rebellion-era movies soon, though, so it probably wouldn't hurt to know how to wear a kilt."

Ron looked over at HR. "What's Hugo going to do? He was planning on wearing his uniform."

HR rolled his eyes. "Mum's already got that planned out. She's sent an owl to the Scottish division head to find out what the proper formal military uniform is; I swear Calliope's going to need a week off after the wedding with all the owls she's sending. Crap, I still have to owl Parker that he has to wear a kilt. He's going to love that." HR got up from his chair, "I'd better Floo him now to make sure he can go tomorrow. Meet at Colony House at ten; that work for you, Dad?"

I nodded. "Sure, HR. You and all of your groomsmen show up at the house and we'll go from there."

Eventually HR, James and Al became bored with us older folks and decided to brave the mass of wedding planning downstairs, leaving us to sit in quiet for a moment. I looked over to Harry. "Just so you know, we're old."

Ron laughed heartily and pointed at me and Harry. "Just think, you two could be grandfathers soon!"

Harry looked at Ron from the corner of his eyes. "How old is Rosie? She seems pretty serious with Oliver Wood's boy."

Ron's face changed expressions immediately. "Shut up, Potter."

* * *

><p>That night as we were getting ready for bed I watched Melody pull on her nightgown and begin brushing her hair; streaks of grey were now more visible, but it did nothing but made me feel lucky. I'd been with her long enough to see those streaks begin appearing, and I knew that I'd be with her long enough to see the streaks eventually take over.<p>

"Why are you staring at me? Hank, you've seen me brush my hair a million times."

"Yes, love, I have. I'm just thinking how lucky I am to have you."

Melody smiled, put her brush down and pulled back the sheets. "You always get like this when there's a wedding. Makes me glad I'm too old to have children. You remember what happened when Poesy got married, right?"

I laughed. We'd attended the wedding of one of my favorite students; Poesy Phillips, the main troublemaker in my first year of teaching at Hogwarts, had married Basil Jones. The wedding had reminded me of when Melody and I got married, and…well, nine months later the twins arrived. "Yes, love, I do. Don't worry, we're both too old to be getting up all the time and changing nappies."

"Good. I've changed enough nappies. Speaking of which, I had a nice little talk with HR. Told him that I don't want to be a grandmother anytime soon…"

"You didn't?"

"Yes, I did. He took it quite well and assured me that it wouldn't happen right away. He's still concentrating on working at Ollivander's and figuring out how he and Lily can buy a house."

I got into bed and pulled the sheets up. "You know we could help him." _After being somewhat comfortable initially, we'd finally become very comfortable. My Muggle Studies textbook had been adopted in many Wizarding schools, and my first book about living as a Muggle of sorts amongst witches and wizards had been very popular. The last two had been moderate successes, but I was happy with that. Melody made a good living as the editor of Witch Weekly, not to mention her trust from her father, so we had saved money for all of our children. Then there was that little investment I'd made with George Weasley…_

Melody nodded. "I know, but HR said that he wants to do it on his own, so I think we should let him. Ginny and I talked about it today; Harry wants to help them too, but they're going to go along with HR and Lily's plans. I think that's the only thing that Lily was happy about today. Ginny's definitely making Lily pay for eloping."

"She stopped in to see me today. Did you know that?"

"No, I didn't. Why'd she stop by?"

"She wanted me to talk to HR, said she'd heard him and James talking about the army. Lily wanted me to tell HR that he shouldn't enlist."

Melody nodded emphatically at me. "Well, she's right. Smart girl. I don't think HR could have picked a better wife. What'd you say?"

"I told her that HR is of age and that she should talk to him about her fears, but that it's his decision."

She looked over at me with an exasperated look on her face. "That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Of course you should tell him not to enlist!"

"Mel, it's his decision. Of course I don't want him to enlist, but it's not our choice anymore, it's his."

"Well at least my daughter-in-law has some sense. You're going to talk to him about it tomorrow when you go get your kilts. I'm going to sleep now."

With that she turned over, fluffed her pillows and with a wave of her wand turned out the lights, leaving me sitting there in the dark. _Shit_.

* * *

><p>The next morning I woke up to find Melody was already up, something that didn't happen very often. After finding my glasses I scratched in the appropriate places, yawned several times and didn't bother to put on a robe or anything, as I desperately needed a cup of tea. Upon walking into the kitchen I was greeted by not only my wife, but Ginny Potter and Hermione Weasley.<p>

"Merlin, Hank! Go put on something!" Melody rolled her eyes and put her head in her hands.

"Morning, Hank!" Hermione smiled brightly at me. "Sorry we didn't let you know we were coming over. Nothing I haven't seen before!"

"Does Ron know that?" Ginny chuckled, causing Hermione to turn several shades of red.

"I'm, uh, I'll just…yeah." I immediately turned back around and went into the bedroom, threw on my robe to cover my boxer shorts and returned somewhat embarrassed to the kitchen. The moment I entered the women just giggled at me. "Really, at your ages, giggling? Are you third years or something?"

"As the father of the groom I hope you're planning on something a touch more dignified." Ginny cocked her head at me. "At least your kilt."

"Nice, Ginny. So thoughtful. Thanks." I was thankful that the kettle was still hot, so it didn't take long to make my tea. Once I'd fixed a cup I gathered my robe around me and sat down at the kitchen table. "So what's this, a meeting of the minds? A MacBeth read-through?"

Melody shook her head. "No, we're going over the guest list. Now that the damned _Prophet_ published that article the owls haven't stopped. It is going to be an event, unfortunately."

I elbowed Ginny. "At least we know the venue can handle a celebrity wedding."

"Molly's…well, you know Molly." Ginny sat back in her chair. "She's all in a tizzy, making Dad do all sorts of things around the house. I think Neville might have to sleep over there with all the work he's doing on the grounds, flowers, plants, you name it.

"I caught Neville with a couple of tears yesterday." Melody sighed. "I think he's taking the fact that his godson is already married rather hard."

I took a look at my watch. Luckily for me I wouldn't have time to be involved in all of the guest planning. "Well, I supposed I should get ready. HR and the boys will be over soon to go get fitted for kilts."

"Just wear your robe, Hank. Looks smashing." Ginny gave me a sarcastic smile and then took a drink of tea.

* * *

><p>It was almost time for bed when I arrived back at Colony House, since I had taken the boys out to eat and for a few pints after the kilt fitting, and everyone without four paws was sleeping. Melody was sprawled out on the sofa, Ginny was in a chair with her feet propped up and Luna Scamander's prone form lay on the kitchen floor; all of them were out like lights. I quietly brushed off the Floo powder and tiptoed into my office, only to be met by the arthritic bundle of fur known as Spit, our Corgi. I knelt down and petted him quickly to prevent him from barking. After he was satisfied I quietly made my way into my office and almost immediately after sitting down my giant grey kneazle cat Virgil perched on my lap.<p>

"What did you do to them, Virg? Stun them or something? I knew you'd learn to use a wand eventually, you're too smart for your own good."

He simply purred, closed his eyes and made himself comfortable, covering my lap. I took a look at my watch and wondered when I'd have husbands dropping by to pick up their wives. Harry I saw all the time, but I hadn't seen Rolf Scamander in ages. It didn't surprise me that Luna was there, as Lily's middle name is Luna, but I did wonder where Hermione had gone to.

I read for a while and then decided that it was entirely too late; I needed to go to sleep. I thought about sending owls off to Harry and Rolf, but instead I moved Virgil off of my lap, went into the linen cupboard and pulled out some extra blankets. I knew better than to try and move Melody when she crashed out so I covered her with a light blanket and then did the same with Luna and Ginny. It looked strange to see Luna asleep on the hard floor of the kitchen, but I'd given up trying to figure out Luna years ago.

As usual I didn't bother to turn on any lights, as I was intimately familiar with the layout of my house. It always drove Melody nuts, as she always banged into chair and tables and whatnot, but she was asleep anyway. I saw a series of parchment on the kitchen table with little seating chart diagrams and knew I was too tired to even think about that, so I went into the bedroom, pulled off my clothes, dumped them on the floor on my side of the bed and slid into the sheets in my Hufflepuff yellow and black boxers that Melody bought me years ago. It had been a long, long day and I was tired.

I was in that small space between sleep and consciousness, the time when things seem unreal, as if dreams are happening. It was in that time that I felt a leg against mine and realized that Melody must have come to bed. I rolled over and put my hand on her back, reaching up to feel her hair…and that was the moment that I became utterly, completely and definitively wide awake, as it wasn't Melody's hair.

I sat up quickly, causing everyone in the bed to become wide awake. Hermione Weasley sat up, almost pulling all of the covers off of the bed.

"Hank!"

"Hermione! What are you doing in here?"

"Melody and everybody fell asleep early, something with the tea, and my back has been bothering me and earlier today Melody said your bed was wonderful for her back and I figured you'd wake everyone up when you got home but you didn't, did you? Oh Merlin, don't tell Ron!"

"Are you kidding? I want to live." I got out of bed quickly and put on my robe. "I'm just going to the guest room. This never happened, did it?" I didn't wait for her to say anything, I headed to the guest room as quickly as possible.

* * *

><p>The next morning at breakfast I was up early and had to step over Luna in order to start the kettle. While I was turned around, head in the fridge, I felt arms around my waist. Luckily I knew those arms very well, as a jangling silver charm bracelet was on one of the wrists.<p>

"Hey love, looked like you ladies had a hard night of it. Get into my bourbon?" I turned around and gave her a hug. "Planning was that bad?"

"No, Hank. Luna brought over some tea that was supposed to help calm everyone's nerves."

"Looks like it calmed y'all down, all right."

"Morning Melody! Um…good morning, Hank." Hermione stood in the doorway looking embarrassed. "Ready for more planning today?"

Melody moved out of my embrace and went over to the cupboard and took out some cups. "I guess so, but no more of that tea." She stood there for a moment. "I feel very rested, though. How about you, Hermione?"

I didn't look at Hermione when she answered, I stuck my head back into the fridge to try and find something for breakfast. I knew it was going to be a very, very long day.


	2. HR & Lily: The Official Wedding

**Chapter 2: HR & Lily: The (Official) Wedding**

_2025_

"Hank! Where are my shoes?" Melody walked in with her hair all over the place, glasses on top of her head and wore a _very_ frazzled look. "They were by my wardrobe last night."

I folded _The_ _Prophet_ and shrugged. "No clue. You were the one who couldn't sleep last night, not me. I was out like a light. Maybe you moved them? Can't you just _accio_ them or something?"

"No, how many times have I told you? I'd get all of the shoes then, and not just mine. We've been married how long and…forget it." She threw her hands in the air and walked back into the bedroom.

I flipped the paper back open and tried to find the article about something innocuous that I'd been reading, but my attention was drawn yet again to the article about HR and Lily's wedding on the Society section. A picture of HR and Lily walking in Diagon Alley, right outside of Ollivander's, was prominently displayed along with a column about how the society wedding of the season was taking place that very day. I took a look at my watch and was happy to see the face display a bright, shining sky with a few fluffy clouds. Luckily there was plenty of time before we had to be over at The Burrow, so I sat back in my chair and reopened the paper.

"Hank, we need to be going." Melody had obviously found her shoes, as she held them in one hand. "There's still a lot to do."

"Its like six hours away, love. And everything's ready anyway, right? Our clothes are already at The Burrow; all we have to do is show up at the right time and get dressed. Just fix another cup of tea or something."

"And we have to be ready an hour before that. Honestly, this isn't a Muggle Club party, Hank, everything has to be perfect." She shook her head at me, pursed her lips and then went back into the bedroom.

-ooo-

We arrived at The Burrow only slightly off of Melody's timetable and with the appropriate female footwear, so I took that as a good sign. The sheer amount of activity around the house was astonishing; workers arranged flowers, gnomes were being unceremoniously dizzied and thrown an appropriate distance away, something I always found slightly cruel and incredibly funny. She insisted that she needed to go talk to Molly and pretty much left me in her dust, so I decided to take a stroll around and see what was what.

A very large tent had been erected on what Ron always called The Burrow's Quidditch pitch, and off to the side of that were a staggering amount of chairs. Just like when I'd married Mel there was an aisle dividing the chairs, a little archway over a small area and underneath the archway was a little raised platform. I'd seen everything before, but only in a drawing on a piece of parchment, so experiencing it firsthand was a little disconcerting. I'd been worried when Mel and I were married at Hogwarts, all the people there, but this was ridiculous.

It was while I was in the tent, looking at the small stage that had been erected for the band when I heard my name. When I turned around I was definitely surprised, as there was Harry Potter, and like me he was in jeans and an old shirt. "I figured you'd be at Grimmauld."

"Kicked me out." He ran a hand through his hair and shrugged. "Ginny said I was making them nervous."

"Join the club, I can't do anything right today. Mel's in one of her moods. Shit, it's worse than when _we_ got married."

Harry nodded. "So, what's the next thing on your schedule?"

"Getting dressed in…" I looked at my watch and noticed that the face was partly-cloudy. "About five hours. Got any cards?"

Harry shook his head. "No, sorry. Do you want to give me a hand? I'm going to reinforce the enchantments so only those with an invitation can get in."

"Harry, you tried to teach me to do magic. You know…"

"Your wand is useless, well established, but I could use the company."

I followed Harry around the outermost edges of the property, and between reinforcements I realized the real reason he wanted me to come along.

"Hank, Lily spoke to me this morning. She's really worried…"

"That HR's going to join the army. I know; she stopped by Colony House the other day."

Harry stared at me for a moment and shook his head slightly. "She's got her mum's determination, that's for sure. What'd you tell her?"

"I said that was between her and HR and not to put me in the middle. Mel read me the riot act, told me I was an idiot. What'd you say?"

"Same thing. Ginny didn't react like Mel, though. She remembers how Molly tried to tell her how to do everything right after we got married." He stopped and did a complicated series of movements with his wand. After walking a few more feet he looked over to me. "HR's name came up in meeting the other day."

"Really? Why?" I looked over to him, confused. My son was many things, but an Auror was definitely not one of them. Harry looked around for a moment, and realized that we were _way_ out on the edges of the property. "I think we're safe here. Come on, Harry, you've got me worried now."

"This was from Ron, so you and Melody can thank him later. HR's a wandmaker, well, an apprentice wandmaker. We'll need wands for the army, as well as some potential other…items that may use the same techniques as wands. The ministry is putting together a group that deals with the more, ah, experimental side of things. They'd be based in London. He'd be in the military, Hank, but he wouldn't be on the front lines or ever see any action. What do you think?"

"I think it sounds great, Harry, but like I told Lily, it's his decision. Hopefully he's got enough brains to realize that not everyone that works on a war effort has to fight."

He nodded. "Like I said, Hank, it's Ron's idea." He looked at his watch and then gave me a sly grin. "I think that's enough for now. Do you think we could get away with disappearing for a few hours?"

-ooo-

Harry and I sat in a Muggle pub near Grimmauld Place, one of the locations Harry liked to frequent because it was close to his house and the fact that nobody ever bothered him there. We were in a small booth towards the back nursing soft drinks, as we both knew that if we turned up even remotely smelling of alcohol, Wizarding or otherwise, our wives would kill us. Well, not kill us, as we'd be needed for the pictures after the ceremony, but after that it would be touch-and-go. The regular patrons just considered us two guys having something to eat and watching telly, but as time went by I had a creeping suspicion that if we didn't get back soon our dual demise would make the front page of _The__Daily__Prophet._

"Harry, shouldn't we be going?"

He glanced at his watch. "Wow, it's been three hours? Suppose it's time to go back and get ready. Formal robes, tie and all that."

"Yeah, and I'll need to kilt up. You'll protect me, right? You know, useless?"

We paid our bill, went back to Grimmauld and took the Floo over to The Burrow. I stepped out and looked over to Harry, who had gone first, but surprisingly he didn't look like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. After brushing the Floo powder off of my shoulders I went over to him. "Is the coast clear?"

He nodded. "For now." He walked over to the staircase and listened for a moment. "Sounds fine to me. Oh wait, hold on, someone's coming." Harry quickly went over and sat in Arthur's chair.

Not knowing what to do I panicked and followed suit, sitting in Molly's chair. I glanced over to Harry and he was reading _Transfiguration__Today_ so I picked up the first magazine I could find and opened it up about halfway through.

"Oh, there you two are." Melody stood at the foot of the staircase completely dressed for the wedding with the exception of her heels. "Hank, can you and Harry go find HR and the boys? We'll be starting pictures soon. You should be dressed by now!"

I put down the magazine. "Sure thing, love. How about as soon as I get dressed I go find him. That work?"

"Yes." She took a deep breath and walked over to the windows. "I should have known they would all arrive early."

Without saying another word she went back upstairs, leaving me dumbfounded. I looked over to Harry and laughed. "I don't think she even knows we left."

He chuckled. "Too much on her mind. You wouldn't fool anybody reading that magazine."

I turned it over and looked at the front; _Magical__Knitters__Monthly_. "Hey, you never know."

-ooo-

I was outside wondering if the nerves of this giant monstrosity of a wedding were getting to me or if I was just looking for an excuse to try and smoke when I heard my name being called. After looking over my shoulder, and through the giant maze of seats that were somewhat filled I saw the distinctive one-eared visage of George Weasley. I waved at him and watched him make his way over after stopping and saying hello to a few people.

He stuck out his hand. "You're doing a wonderful job, Hank!" George, in full purple dress robes, shook my hand vigorously. "Stupendous!"

"Um, George, I'm not doing anything."

"And you're doing it very, very well."

"Fuck off, George."

He shook his head at me. "Don't let Melody hear that, not today of all days. How are Mr. and Mrs. Boyd doing today?"

I shrugged. "Fine, I guess. She made us get here way too early so I ducked out with Harry for a bit…"

"No no no no no, Hank. The _other_ Mr. and Mrs. Boyd."

"Ted and Lavender? They're around here somewhere. Why?"

He thumped me on the side of my head. "Did you and Harry drink all day? Mr. and Mrs. Hieronymus Boyd, you idiot. How are they doing?"

"Oh, yeah. I keep forgetting." I rubbed the side of my head. "Didja have to hit me so hard?"

"You are hard-headed, didn't think you'd even feel it."

"Right, nice. Well, they're doing ok, I guess. They're taking pictures. Not HR and Lily, everybody else. Got mine out of the way off the bat." I looked over and saw a bunch of people enter the seating area and looked at my watch. "Holy shit, it's almost time. I'm supposed to be back inside soon."

George looked around. "Well, that will make things interesting. Remind me to give ol' Ronniekins a few of Bill's Specials."

"What the hell are you talking about, George?"

He pointed to a very solid-looking man with short dark hair going slightly grey at the temples. "Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian coach. I still say he could play if he wanted. You know about him, don't you?"

I groaned. "Oh yeah. Never really paid much attention to Ron when he used to go on and on about him. Didn't Krum have a thing for…"

"Her date to the Yule Ball during the Tri-Wizard tournament, that's the one. I need to find Lee Jordan; I bet we could get some odds going on whether Ron tries to punch him. After a few drinks at the reception, that is."

"George, if you start something at HR and Lily's wedding reception I don't think you'll live to see another birthday. Ginny will destroy you."

-ooo-

I stood inside The Burrow next to Melody and after a few minutes I took out the fourth handkerchief from my sporran Balthasar and handed it to her. "Mel, love, why is this bothering you so much? He's already married, you know."

She sniffed and then blew her nose very inelegantly. "I know, Hank, it's just…all the people here, the reception later, it was like he wasn't really married since we didn't' see it. Don't try to understand, it'll only make you go cross-eyed because I know it doesn't make any sense."

I put my hand on her shoulder. "I do, love, I do understand. Maybe it's because everybody will know now, plus you can't really hide it anymore, you're old enough to have a son that's married."

"Can you see the grey?" She put her hand up to her head next to her glasses. "I had Hermione help me. You can't see it, can you?"

"No, Mel, I can't see any grey, you look beautiful." I leaned over and gave her a kiss. "Now come on and pull it together, there's a ton of people out there."

The door opened and Ron stuck his head inside. "About ten minutes, how's everyone?"

"Bored." James Potter walked past and stuck his head out the door, forcing Ron to move aside. "The party better be good for me to have to wear this stupid thing."

I laughed. "What's the matter, James? Don't want to wear a kilt every day?"

"You won't need an opening line." HR came over and stood between Melody and me. "Kilt will do the work for you."

James pulled his head back inside. "Like I need an opening line. I play for Puddlemere and then there's something else, oh yeah, my last name's Potter."

"That didn't stop the last one from chucking you." Albus' voice could be heard from the back of the room. Everyone besides James laughed.

I took a look at my watch and had a series of deep breaths. "Ok, come on now. Everybody knows what you have to do. Straighten up."

A chorus of male voices could be heard behind me. "Yes, Professor."

"Funny, funny." I looked over at Mel. "So much for keeping them in line."

"Speaking of lines, it's time." Ron went over, stood next to Melody and offered her his arm. "Music's started, we're on."

I followed Ron and Melody out of the door and we began the walk down to our designated seats in the front row; as we walked I couldn't believe the number of people there. Cameras went off left and right as we made our way down, and I nodded to some of the people in the seats. Draco Malfoy nodded at me as he sat next to Astoria, Poesy winked at me as she sat next to her husband, and when we got towards the front Neville and Hannah were beaming. After Ron had deposited Mel at her spot I stood and watched as the rest of the procession came down the aisle. George escorted Lane Bramble, and surprisingly when Lane came next to us she stopped and gave both me and Melody a kiss on the cheek. My parents came down the aisle with Charlie and sat next to us, Mom wide-eyed and somewhat in shock, but Dad was beaming. Bill escorted both Ginny and Molly down the aisle with Arthur behind them, and after they were in their spots Ginny and Melody looked at each other and I handed Melody another handkerchief because I knew what was going to happen.

Then the kids began coming down the aisle; all of the groomsmen and their bridesmaids, and I was happy to see my daughters look so beautiful. As they took their places it became even more readily apparent that eventually I would be walking them down the aisle and I had to sniff a few times to prevent grabbing the handkerchief from Mel for my own use. Then it was Albus and HR's turn, and they walked together down the aisle and I couldn't believe it; my oldest son, already married but going through the official ceremony. Where had all the time gone? It seemed just yesterday that he was bothering me to go to Hogwarts and "help out" with things. Small flashes of scenes went through my memory; walking with him in Stintborough when every stick was a wand, the fearful conversations where he haltingly told me he was afraid he wouldn't be able to do any magic, the Sorting Hat placing him in Hufflepuff, waking up in the morning to find him and his roommates asleep all over the living room at Colony House in the summer, talking to him after his altercation with Graham Kent regarding Lily…

And then the music changed. Everyone stood, and way up the aisle, all the way back at The Burrow, Lily held on to Harry's arm. The cameras went into overdrive in the press section as Lily and Harry made their slow, measured walk towards the small platform where HR and the wizard conducting the ceremony stood waiting. Lily was a vision; her white dress fell away from her gracefully into a long train but I found myself looking at Harry for a few moments and it was obvious that he, while happy, was feeling some mixed emotions. It might have been my oldest son that was married to Lily but it was his only daughter, the baby of the family.

When the wizard asked who gave Lily to be married Harry's voice was clear and steady, but happy. "Her mother and I."

Then the ceremony began. After a few short words on the wonderful institution of marriage the wizard began the vow portion of the service and turned to HR. I'm a writer of sorts, and I like to think that I can turn a phrase, but the vows that Lily and HR wrote for each other were beautiful. Melody put her hand in mine and I gave it a very loving squeeze. I couldn't turn around, I was fixed on my son and Lily, but the sounds of tears were unmistakable in the crowd. Albus handed HR the ring, he said the words and placed it on Lily's finger, and then Rose gave Lily HR's ring and she repeated after the wizard in somewhat softer tones than she'd said her vows. The wizard took out his wand, pointed it at Lily and HR's joined hands and purple light wreathed their wrists and then shot up in to the air. He pronounced them man and wife and then HR leaned down and gave Lily a damn good kiss.

Melody and I watched them all go up the aisle to the music and then we took our turn. It was a blur of people as we made our way to the little immediate reception area, but as we were almost there Mel looked over to me with tears in her eyes. "I still can't believe my little boy is married."

"He is, love, and he hasn't been little in a long time. Look at it this way; at least we got good in-laws."

-ooo-

Harry and Ginny had rented out the Ephemera ballroom in London, one of the biggest places I'd ever seen. It was a wizarding location, and through some crazy magic it appeared there only so often. Apparently it was rented out for different occasions and instead of people going to the location the venue would come to the people. I have no idea how, it just did. When we arrived there, ahead of most of the guests, I couldn't believe the place. About a million candles lit the ballroom and its auxiliary rooms, legions of formally attired waiters and waitresses manned the tables, and several fully stocked bars. Flowers were everywhere, especially lilies. I turned to Mel. "Still can't believe this place. Ok, now what are we supposed to do?"

She shook her head at me. "You didn't listen to the plans, did you? Somehow I'm not surprised. The top table, the long one, is for HR, Lily and the wedding party. We're at the table over there with your family and my mum."

I took a look around. "They're not here yet, so now what?"

"Well, you could go get us a drink. I think after everything that went right Ginny and I will need a few tonight."

_Oh__shit_. "Um, ok."

I watched a groups of people arrive as I made my way over to the bar and waved at Neville and Hannah. When Hannah held up her hands as I question I pointed over towards Melody's direction and she headed off that way.

Neville made his way over to me and clapped a hand on my shoulder. "One down, three to go."

"Thanks, Nev. You know, I get why HR and Lily ran off. Hate to think what this is costing Harry."

He laughed. "After what you told me about how Ginny was when she found out they ran off and got married I don't think he cares, he just wants to avoid that."

I nodded. "Yeah, the Wrath of Weasley, as he calls it, isn't fun even if you're not on the receiving end. Trust me. So Nev, whatcha drinking?"

After receiving four of Bill's Specials we headed back to our wives and gave them their drinks. Hannah and Melody were in deep conversation which caused me to have to set down her drink and tap her on the arm. "One Special, as ordered."

"Thank you, Hank. Can you believe all of the people? When Ginny told me about all the RSVPs I wasn't sure if I believed her."

"Almost all of the DA is here." Hannah looked over to Neville. "I haven't seen Michael Corner, have you seen him?"

Neville shook his head positively. "Saw him talking to Terry Boot and his wife earlier."

Mel rolled her eyes. "I can't wait to see what Miranda Boot is wearing. Probably something skin tight with a lot of cleavage. Or leather."

Thankfully I didn't have to comment on Miranda's fashion choices as the wedding party arrived, HR with a glowing Lily on his arm. They took their place at the head table along with everyone else, and it was interesting to me as I could have sworn I saw Virginia get mad at someone as she tried to talk to Hugo Weasley. Probably just my imagination. People began walking in and taking their seats and I was about to get up to see if I could find Mom and Dad when someone smacked me on the back of my head.

"Come on, bro, we need to go to our table."

I turned around to find Nate grinning like an idiot in his formal wizarding robes. "Nice, Nate, real nice. What if there was a reporter or a photographer watching?"

"Was there?"

"I don't think so."

"Then shut up and move along, dork." He stopped suddenly and pointed to my hand. "Are you drinking what I think you're drinking?"

"Yeah, it's a Special."

Nate went over and gave Melody a very overly-dramatic hug and kissed her on the cheek. "I'm so sorry, Melody, you know he's going to be pathetic after he's had a few of those."

Mel smiled and held up her very own Special.

-ooo-

Thankfully I paced myself with the drinks and made sure to eat plenty which wasn't hard with the food; everything was so damned good I even contemplated asking the waiter for another entrée. Speeches were made, including a very funny and embarrassing one for HR that was given by Albus. Eventually the dinner was cleared away and the tables in the center of the ballroom vanished, leaving a vast, open space for dancing. As Lily and HR danced to a song that I didn't know, or that I couldn't place, I put my arm around Mel's waist.

"Look at them. Doesn't seem too long ago that was us."

"I was thinking the same thing, Hank. Luckily they didn't have all the bother we had before our wedding, though."

"No shit." I winced and looked over to her. "Sorry." She hadn't heard me, as she was focused on Lily and HR. We watched them dance, silent until the song ended and then saw HR and Lily break apart with HR headed our way. I nudged her gently. "You're on."

It was quite funny to see HR dancing with Mel, especially as he was so much taller than her, even with the heels. Lily danced slowly with Harry and then I felt someone tap my arm.

"Shall we, Hank?"

I took Ginny's outstretched hand. "Of course, Mrs. Potter. How could I turn down a dance with the mother of the bride?"

As we blinked from the flashbulbs I moved Ginny around the dance floor. "So what do you think, Ginny? I think it all went off beautifully."

She nodded. "Yes, it did go well. I still can't believe she's married."

"Tell me about it; Mel's already gone through six handkerchiefs. How's Harry doing?"

Ginny glanced over to Harry and Lily for a moment. "Very well, all things considered. He didn't want to get out of bed today; I think he was hoping he could stay asleep and it was all a dream."

"So what was the trick? How'd you get him out of bed?"

"I just reminded him what it was like when we got married. A few things that Dad said to me; that did it."

I didn't have a chance to ask what words of wisdom Arthur had imparted as I felt a tap on my arm and Harry looked over at me. "What is it with you and my wife at formal occasions?" Ginny went to him with a smile.

I laughed. "It's the kilt." I took Lily's hand and we began a slow dance. I made sure it was slow because the last thing I wanted to do was step all over her dress.

"You did it, Lily. It's all done now, you're mom's happy, all over."

"Thank Merlin." She smiled and stifled a laugh. "Thank you for everything, Profess…Dad."

"You're welcome. Not sure exactly what I did, but you're welcome."

She didn't have time to respond because once again I was cut in upon, but I didn't mind. I gave HR a quick hug and turned him towards his wife.

"Thanks, Dad."

I watched Lily put her hand in his. "Have fun, you two. Remember, the reception is for you."

-ooo-

Several of Bill's Specials later my Prince Charlie jacket hung from the back of my chair, Melody's fascinator with the big feathers sat on the table and Dad was almost asleep. I nudged him with my arm. "Want me to get one of the kids to take you and Mom back to Colony House?"

He shook his head. "No, thanks, son. We're staying with the Grangers tonight. Big sightseeing trip planned for tomorrow." He looked at the empty glasses on the table and raised an eyebrow. "You might need a few of those little hangover drinks tomorrow. You're not as young as you used to be, you know."

"Yeah, I just watched my oldest child go through a wedding ceremony." Even in my fuzzy state I didn't want to say anything about the real wedding in case prying ears were nearby. "So how'd you do it, Dad? Watching all of us get married? Well, except Nate."

He stood up, stretched and patted me on the shoulder. "All part of the circle of life, Hank."

"You've been watching Disney movies with Jen's kids again, haven't you?"

"Guilty as charged. I'll talk to you tomorrow, Hank. Have you seen your mother?"

I looked around but couldn't see hide nor hair of Mom. "Nope. Sorry."

After Dad left I made my way over to the bar, draining my drink on the way. As I stood in line for another Special the music changed to something I'd never heard before. "What the hell is that?"

"Were you talking to me? I don't know the answer, by the way." Ruby Frye smiled at me. "So how are you, Professor?"

I waved her off. "You're not in my class anymore, Ruby, you can call me Hank. I'm fine, actually better than fine, I'm great. Where's your husband?"

She adjusted her feathered hat and rolled her eyes. "Somewhere being difficult. Last time I left Carrick he was in a conversation, if you can call it that, with James Potter, Ron Weasley and Viktor Krum. Something about Quidditch."

Oh shit. "Um, do you know where they were?"

"Hold on a moment." She ordered her drinks and turned back to me. "Let's see…ok, over there, by Scorpius Malfoy and Hugo Weasley? If you go over there and look towards the back wall, near the windows, I think you'll find them. It was a beautiful ceremony, by the way. Still can't believe HR is old enough to be married."

"You and me both, Ruby. Oh hey, have you seen Lavinia?"

"She's at our table with William. And that's a new song by The Thestrals. Very popular these days."

I got my Special and followed Ruby's instructions. Sure enough, just as she'd indicated, there they were. But instead of a giant argument, which was what I'd pictured in my mind along with Ron and Viktor aiming wands at each other, instead of that they were all sitting around the table drinking and actually discussing something like rational adults. Well, as rational as Ron got about Quidditch, that is. When I made it over to the table James stood up.

"Professor, I'd like you to meet Viktor Krum and his wife Ulyana."

I exchanged greetings and then sat in a chair next to James. I looked over to Hermione and must have had a funny look on my face because she gave me 'the eyebrow' as Rose always called it. Surprisingly I could follow the conversation, as my Quidditch knowledge had improved measurably since I first arrived in the UK, and when I professed that was a supporter of the Wigtown Wanderers everybody let me have it, especially James.

-ooo-

I should have gone back there to the table and continued talking about Quidditch. It would have been the best move, all things considered. HR and Lily left for their second honeymoon on Skye, Mel cried a bit more this time, and if I had a brain in my head I should have just stayed there and listened to whatever crap music they played and called it good. I should blame George Weasley, but he didn't force me to go.

I'm not sure exactly how many Specials I'd had when Bill, Charlie and George Weasley appeared by my side along with my brother Nate. Before I even had a chance to say a word George and Nate began talking to me about cars, more specifically one car that belongs to Arthur Weasley. In all the years that I'd been helping Arthur with his car he'd given me a spare key, as there were times that I worked on the Muggle parts of the car when he wasn't about. George knew I had the spare key. Bill knew I had the spare key. Charlie knew I had the spare key. Melody did _not_ know that I had the spare key. The plot was hatched that we needed to go for a flying ride in the Anglia. No, that's wrong. We didn't need to, we absolutely positively _had_ to go for a flying ride.

I was too far gone to drive and just about everybody else was as well. We needed someone sober enough to drive, someone who actually knew how to drive a car. At a massive wizarding wedding that limited the options. I scanned the crowd…Peter Sawgrass, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Petal Farnsworth, Neville, Ted, Oliver…Oliver! My nephew, Jen's son. He was twenty-three and a Muggle; he obviously knew how to drive.

Somehow we convinced him of our great idea; the idea of a flying car was probably enough but we laid it on thick. An antique. A historical antique. Perfect night for a flying ride. Once in a lifetime opportunity. We snuck out the back, Apparition partners were hastily selected and we were gone.

Getting the car out of the shed was easy, as after years of working on the Anglia bit by bit it was finally in "Muggle working order" as Arthur liked to call it. Oliver was a bit astonished that we could fit everyone in there, magic, of course, but soon we were puttering along the grass. When George engaged the flying bits that when things became interesting. Zooming along the countryside, at a decent height, we were doing great until Oliver yelled back that the car was driving by itself. George made Oliver lift up and he slid across the seat until he was in the driver's position, but it was to no avail; we couldn't control the car any longer. Nobody could bail out, either, as the doors were locked and the windows wouldn't roll down. It became obvious where the Anglia was taking us as the lights became clearer: London.

We touched down in an empty parking lot somewhere near the Ministry and all of our efforts to unlock the doors were useless. Eventually, though, Bill yelled and we all looked in his direction. Two robed figures walked our way, wands out. The voice was loud and clear as it seemed to reverberate through the car.

"We've got you covered; come out with your hands up when the doors unlock."

As the doors unlocked we all exited to find John Dinkle, the Auror training instructor, with his wands pointed at us.

-ooo-

Arthur and Harry came and got us out of the holding cell, as even George's gift of gab couldn't get us off. Apparently Arthur had cast a rather strong anti-theft spell on the Anglia. Once we'd signed some forms and promised never to 'borrow' the Anglia again the Apparition dance began again and we all arrived back at The Ephemera. As we returned to the party it seemed that nobody had missed us, so that was in our favor. I managed to find my way back to the bar after a short talk with Headmaster Gavin Titus and Petal Farnsworth, both of them slightly in their cups, and it was while ordering another Special that I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Dad? You have a minute?"

I looked up to my son and he had an odd look on his face. "Of course, HR. Nothing's wrong, is it?"

He shook his head and after receiving my drink I walked with him towards a quieter section of the ballroom, an area with little tables and chairs. I sat down and he followed suit, and to be honest he looked more nervous than he did earlier that day when he got married.

"Dad, I think I messed up."

"Already? Well, there's a bunch of lawyers here, but doing that on your wedding night, well, second wedding…"

He shook his head. "No, not that! How many of those have you had? I just had a conversation with Harry, and when Lily and I get back I'm supposed to meet him at his office to talk to him and a wizard named Augustus Coarklink. Coarklink runs the experimental research division of the army and they want me to join. I'd be in the army, sort of, but I'd be here at home. What do you think?"

I blinked and took a sip of my Special. "What did Lily say?"

"She said it was much better than me being on the front lines; that it's the best situation because I can serve but still be home."

"Smart man."

"What? Dad, are you drunk?"

I thought about it for a second. "Since I've already been almost arrested by the Aurors for stealing Arthur Weasley's car the answer is yes, I'm pretty sure I'm drunk. You're smart, HR. You talked to Lily first. Remember that. As for the rest? You'll be great at it, just like the wands but a new challenge. "

After we stood up I gave him a hug and we went to find his wife. Lily was waiting for him, and soon the goodbyes began as they were due at the Bed & Breakfast on Skye. As I wondered how many repeat customers the proprietor got for the Honeymoon room Mel put her arm around my waist. Lily and HR held hands, waved at everyone, and Apparated away.

"One down, Hank."

"You sound like George. So, Mrs. Boyd, care for a drink?"

* * *

><p>Drinking too many specials can be disorienting at the best of times. I had seen 'too many' and raised it, as when I woke up I could have sworn I'd gone back in time. As I sat up in bed and got my bearings I could have sworn it was Melody's old house, except things were different. I nudged Mel but she simply groaned. After I managed to sit upright, not an easy task, I found a black and gold striped robe on the edge of the bed, so I put that on. Once my feet hit the floor I headed towards the kitchen, and then things began to become much clearer. Yes, it was Melody's old house but it now belonged to Will and Lavinia Ryder-Smythe. That was obvious by the fact that both Will and Lavinia sat at the kitchen table, drinking tea and reading the papers.<p>

"Good morning, Professor." Will gave me a smirking grin and pushed a cup of tea towards an empty chair at the table.

I sat down and took a sip of tea. "How…here…potions?"

Lavinia smiled and pushed several hangover potions towards me. "Will and I brought you back. I knew it was time to go when I found you on the dancefloor with Lavender and Seamus Finnegan was over talking to Melody, something about a 'tradition' of hers. We thought it best to bring you back here."

"Thank Merlin." I took a hangover potion, thought about it, and downed the second one. "What do the papers say?"

"Oh, they have quite the spread."

Will handed me one of them and I glanced at the pictures, happy to see that the photos concentrated on Lily and HR. Mel and I looked decent in the one of the wedding party, thankfully the only one of me in there. I nodded back to the bedroom. "Lavinia, she's going to need a few potions."

"Oh, I'm ready. Started brewing them up this morning." She pushed a brown ceramic bowl full of potion vials towards me. "I thought you'd need them."

"Yes, Professor, that was quite the party." Will took another sip of tea. "Oh, and there was a spot of bother last night, out at The Burrow. Someone tried to steal Arthur Weasley's car. Apparently it was spotted flying towards London. Paper has a few eyewitness accounts, but there aren't any details."

I didn't respond. I took the paper, the bowl of potions and my tea and headed back into the bedroom. I set the bowl on the table next to Melody's side of the bed, took another sip of tea and slid back into bed next to her. Something told me that by the end of the day all of those hangover potions would be gone. The sun was way too bright coming through the windows, so I laid back and put a pillow over my face. Almost as soon as I had done that I removed the pillow, because something had caught my eye, and sure enough, there it was. In the ceiling, stuck fast, was one of Melody's high heels.


	3. Mione & Scorpius: Whatever She Wants

**Chapter 3: Whatever She Wants**

_29 December 2029_

"More tea, Hank?"

I nodded at Hermione and adjusted my glasses. I knew the invitation for tea at Hermione and Ron's house was more than a friendly little get-together, as my daughters' two bombshells at The Burrow had definitely changed things. I sat back and tried to wrap my head around it all. Virginia, my oldest daughter, was now engaged to Hugo, Ron and Hermione's son. That in and of itself was great, actually, but Mione, one of my twin daughters and goddaughter of the Weasleys, was also engaged to Scorpius Malfoy. I knew Melody still had massive reservations about being related to the Malfoys, even though Astoria was in fact one of the nicer witches that I knew. It was being related to Draco, and therefore Lucius and the other infamous Malfoys, that was the issue. As for Hermione and Ron? Well, they knew more about Malfoy Manor than they wanted to, which is a huge understatement by any stretch of the imagination. Christmas had been an event, especially as when we went over to Forthingsgate which now belonged to Mione, and she had informed everyone that she and Scorpius would be getting married there in June of next year. Married in the back garden, which in reality looked like something from the grounds at an art museum, so at least there would be plenty of room. That wasn't what was bothering Mel the most, though. Six months to plan a wedding, and what a wedding…this one would be much different than HR and Lily's wedding. That one was grand, but what I'd heard about Mione's wedding plans? Crazy. But most of all, it was still hard to think that both Mione and Virginia were getting married. When the hell did I get so old? Wasn't it just yesterday or last month that Mel and I were planning our wedding?

"Did she tell you the number of bridesmaids she wants?" Melody shook her head. "Four, maybe five, plus the Maid of Honor. She's booked interviews with three wedding planners for next week. Three!"

Ron laughed. "You women have fun with that."

Mel rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Ron. As soon as the engagement announcement went in the paper I've had owls like crazy. One woman even showed up at my office with a resume and pictures. She sat in the reception area for an hour before I finally took pity on the woman and met with her. And then there's the Wasps, they have been sending things…"

I put my hand on her arm. "She's a professional athlete, plus she's marrying Scorpius. You can't be surprised."

"Oh! And don't get me started on that." She took a very deep breath. "I've also had several rather nasty letters telling me how horrible of a mum I am since I'm letting my daughter marry a Malfoy. I even turned several of the letters over to the Aurors."

Ron shook his head. "We tried to tell Blondie, but there's no way she'll really understand. Don't look at me like that, Hank, I know Scorpius isn't his father. Like I told Mione, he's a good kid, gets on well at the Ministry and during the war his soldiers respected him. Smart, too, that's why he got bumped up to the Intelligence Units. But those letters, Melody, I've seen some of them. Harry showed them to me, and, well…you're going to need security at Forthingsgate."

"Security?" Mel fell back into her chair. "Maybe we should tell her to get married like HR and Lily. No, don't tell her that, and if she did do it I'd hex the both of them into next week."

Hermione pursed her lips slightly. "Don't give Hugo any ideas. Or should I say Virginia? I doubt she'll want the big production."

I laughed. "If Gin has her way they'll get a Justice of the Peace and be done with it." I looked over to the Weasleys. "Don't make me explain. It's in a bunch of old movies."

Mel rolled her eyes and blazed ahead. "So we've got to have security, Ron? Actually that might work. You have no idea about her guest list. It looks like from the first pass she's inviting not only all of the Wasps and their staff, including the people who remove rubbish, but all of Hogwarts as well. I never thought I'd say this, but I feel bad for Astoria. There will be so many people on the bride's side…"

"We'll figure it out, Mel." I pushed my glasses on the top of my head. "We'll figure it out."

* * *

><p>Unfortunately for the Malfoys the wedding announcement brought back a lot of hostility, both open and hidden. <em>The Daily Prophet<em> ran a big article on Sunday the week after the announcement, going over a lot of old ground. The Malfoy's involvement with Lord Voldemort was brought up, including a long piece about Lucius Malfoy's lack of public repentance. I remembered meeting his ghost years ago in the old part of the Manor with Draco, and somehow I wasn't surprised. If he was that much of a bastard when he was dead it's frightening to think what he was like when he was alive. Of course the stories that I heard from Harry and Ron, when they'd let things out over the years in drips and drabs, gave me a frightening picture, but the official record wasn't much better. Top that off with all the historical stuff that Draco and I found out in New Orleans before HR was born and it wasn't hard to see why almost the entire Wizarding world hated the name Malfoy. Luckily for Scorpius he had gone his own way, and it was easy to see in retrospect why he enlisted right away when the war with WLF broke out.

For the most part I stayed out of things the best I could, insulated by Hogwarts. I had flashbacks of all the wedding planning difficulties when Mel and I got married, how that fucking Flurbin asshole had tried to muck things up, but thankfully Neville being headmaster made those things go away. That was good and bad, as Mel and Mione were over to my room about every other weekend for a planning session. As those sessions went on through the months it was painfully obvious that what Mione wanted and what Mel wanted for her were two different things. Mel thought it would be best if Mione had a rather simple dress, something that she could use again in a different setting, but my blonde daughter wanted none of that. Instead it was a parade of pictures, notes and mild arguments which always ended in my wife being irritated and Mione determined to find exactly what she wanted.

Things had calmed down a bit, and I was happily somewhat out of the loop, when on a nice and surprisingly rain-free March Saturday evening I was out in the Herbology greenhouse with Neville, talking about Mione's earlier Quidditch match, when the doors opened. Neville was expecting students, as some Gryffindors were caught out after curfew, but it wasn't students at the door, it was Mione and Scorpius.

I looked at Mione, down at my watch, and then back to my daughter. "Didn't you play a match two hours ago?"

She nodded and pulled Scorpius by the hand over to me and Neville. "Yes, Dad. And we won."

She had that exasperated tone that I knew from experience sounded just like Melody, but I wasn't going to say anything. "Yes, I know, listened to it on the wireless. Um, ok, glad to see you both. What brings you out to Hogwarts…"

"Music." Mione nodded emphatically and then glanced up to Scorpius. "I want you to call in a favor but _somebody_ doesn't think it proper."

I saw Scorpius roll his eyes so I simply nodded. "Ok, music. Call in a favor?"

"Gideon Crumb." Mione took a deep breath. "I want the Weird Sisters to play at the reception."

After a low whistle I shook my head negatively. "Mione, they haven't played together in a decade. Last time I talked to Gid he said that he'd rather shove live pixies up his arse than be in the same room as Myron Wagtail. Kind of hard to have the Weird Sisters play if Myron doesn't sing."

Scorpius ran a hand through his hair. "See, Mione? I told you, just get someone else…"

"No." She shook her head slowly. "I want the Weird Sisters. It's my wedding. You sound like mum, Scorpius. 'Oh, this dress looks lovely, Mione, and you could wear it after for one of the events at the Ministry. Blah, blah, blah.' I want the Weird Sisters, Dad. Can't you owl Gideon? He wants you to work on a book for him, you know. Maybe you could…"

I heard a chuckle and looked over briefly to Neville. "Shut up, Longbottom."

He affected a gravely insulted expression. "That would be Headmaster to you, professor."

"Fine, then shut up, Headmaster." I turned back to Mione. "Yes, we've talked about a book on The Weird Sisters, but that's all it's been, talk. I haven't seen him in about a year or so. I don't think it's going to happen, Mione."

"I want the Weird Sisters." She began breathing deeply. "It's my wedding…"

"Our wedding." Scorpius looked down to her and then immediately regretted his words.

"Yes, yes, _our_ wedding, and I want the Weird Sisters." She looked at her watch. "Come on, Scorpius, we have to go talk to the printer about the invitations. Dad, do I need to owl Gideon myself?"

I sighed. I knew that if I didn't at least contact him about a possible Weird Sisters reunion that I'd never hear the end of it. "I'll send him a letter, but you really need to think of a backup plan."

"Gee, thanks, Dad. I can hear the enthusiasm just bubbling out of you." She rolled her eyes and looked over to Neville. "Talk to him, please." With that she and Scorpius headed out of the greenhouse.

Instead of saying anything Neville left for a few moments, but when he returned it was with a large plant with wide maroon leaves. He sat the plant down on the table next to me, took out his wand and made a small flame at the end. "It's a new strain, they like smoke. I figured after that little conversation…"

"Thanks." I pulled my pipe out of my pocket, packed it and lit it off of Neville's wand. "Can you believe this is the same girl who would wear Puddlemere jerseys with holes in them every day when she wasn't at Hogwarts? Who the hell was that and what has she done with my daughter?"

"I believe she has turned it to a bridejilla."

I laughed. "I think you mean bridezilla, Nev. Oh, excuse me, Headmaster."

He elbowed me. "If she's like this, I think you better go see Melody tomorrow. Maybe I should go with you, shielding spells and all that."

"How about you just give me a sleeping draught and I wake up the day before the wedding. There's got to be something out here that we can mix up for a potion. I swear HR and Lily's wasn't even this bad, and that was, well, you know. Big. Why's she going crazy, Nev?"

He thought for a moment and then turned slightly to me. "I think she's trying to make up for the fact that Scorpius…well, the Malfoys…if she makes it a massive production people will have to turn up, won't they?"

-ooo-

The next morning Mel and I sat in much-welcomed sunlight in our living room, reading the _Sunday Prophet_, when Mione arrived by Floo.

"What was so bloody important, Mum? I have to be in Wales in an hour to see Minnie."

Mel glanced at me briefly then fixed our daughter with a stare over the top of her glasses. "Hermione Helen. Sit down and for once in your life be quiet."

I folded the paper and crossed my legs. After Mione sat down on the edge of the chair I saw Mel nod, so I cleared my throat and began. "Mione, Neville mentioned something to me after your visit last night. You were there when we did all of HR and Lily's planning, and you hated it. Now even Neville can see that you're a bridezilla, even though he screwed up the word." I held up my hand to stop her from speaking. "Let. Me. Finish." I used my 'dad' voice as the kids had called it, and watched as she sat back properly on the chair. "I realize that you want your wedding to be perfect; every bride wants that. But I think it's something more, something you haven't even told Scorpius. Mione, are you trying to make this the most over-the-top, perfect wedding because you want to make sure Scorpius…"

She sighed and her head fell against the back of the chair. "Dad, you can't imagine what people have told me. Even some of my teammates. I don't want those people looking down their noses at us. 'Oh, Malfoy couldn't even get a band. I bet nobody wants to play _that_ wedding.' I can hear it now, Dad. You know what I'm talking about, Mum. If we have the best wedding ever…"

I got it, and so did Mel, as I saw her nod her head slowly. "I did have one caterer refuse to even bid on the job. Said her cousin was killed by Death Eaters, Hank."

"You didn't tell me that, Mum." Mione had a dark look on her face. "Which one, I want to make sure…"

I waved her off. "It doesn't matter, Mione. It's like Harry and the Weasleys told you, some people are never going to accept that Scorpius, and Draco for that matter, aren't Lucius. Some people will never forgive Draco for what he did, and sometimes I don't think even Draco will ever truly forgive himself. But don't you think you're going a little overboard on things? Gin owled me, and I think she's ready to strangle you."

"What else is new?" Mione rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"Mione." Mel sighed. "I've even heard about your behavior from HR."

"Really? That bad?" She slouched in the chair and was quiet for a while. Eventually she sat up, a rather sad look on her face. "The Promotions department for the Wasps called me in the other day. They don't know what to do. Usually it would be a bang-up PR thing, a player getting married, but since I'm marrying Scorpius they aren't sure." She sighed. "HR said something?"

Melody nodded. "He said that you were quite snippy with Lily the other day. Something about the food."

"I told Lily that the place she recommended wouldn't do. Didn't tell her that the planner already talked to them and they'd refused because of the Malfoys."

I caught Melody's eye and it was obvious that she wanted me to say something. I cleared my throat. "Mione, instead of being bitchy to Lily why don't you tell her what happened? I know you want to protect Scorpius, but that's not always possible. He managed when he was at Hogwarts without you running interference, and he's a big boy. He's had to deal with that kind of shit all his life. Marriage is a partnership, Mione. If you don't tell each other what's really going on it will just blow up in your face. I learned that the hard way when your mom and I were first married. Talk to him, Mione. Tell him why you're running around like a crazy bride trying to make sure that absolutely everything is absolutely perfect. Perfect isn't possible, honey. You do the best you can, and that goes for more than making sure the cake is the right flavor and stuff like that." I exhaled deeply. "If you're really worried about the catering why don't you send a letter to your Grandma Boyd? She used to be a caterer, maybe she can help you figure out some good questions to ask prospective caterers and stuff like that. And you probably should go see Lily and apologize. Most of all, though, after you see Minnie today I think you and Scorpius should have a talk. Tell him what's going on."

That seemed to have done the trick, as after apologizing and hugging both me and Mel she Flooed away. I picked up Mel's teacup and went into the kitchen, fixed us both a cup, and after returning I sat down the tea for Mel I fell into my chair without saying a word.

"Now what, Hank?"

I took a sip of tea and pushed my glasses back down onto the bridge of my nose. "I guess I need to write a letter to Gideon Crumb."

-ooo-

I was halfway through my letter to Gideon when my oldest daughter Virginia walked into my office at Colony House and sank into one of the old leather chairs, her long hair cascading over the back. She hadn't said a word, so I sat down my ink pen and looked over to her. "Mione?"

"Holy hippogriffs, Dad. She's fucking horrible lately."

I laughed. "You just missed her by an hour. She's at Minnie's place now. Stopped by and had a chat with me and your mom."

"I bet that was _lovely_." Gin rolled her eyes. "What's she want now? Merlin himself to perform the ceremony? Wait; don't tell her I said that."

"Actually, I think we finally figured out why your sister has been such, um, why she's been acting…"

"Like a raging bitch?" Gin lifted her head off of the back of the chair and moved her long hair out of her face, her Grandmother Bramble's bangle bracelets jingling. "She can't make up for all of the bad feelings about the Malfoys with one wedding ceremony."

_What?_ I looked at her and took off my glasses. "You figured it out?"

"Dad, please. There's a reason Mum was in Hufflepuff and you're the Head of House. Mione always has a reason for doing things, even if it's usually 'because I want to' do whatever. I tried to tell her she can't fix everything a long time ago but she wouldn't listen to me, oh no, can't listen to your older sister who was in the same house at Hogwarts as her fiancée. There's no way I would understand. She just barges ahead. Typical Gryffindor."

I stifled a smile and put my glasses back on. "So what brings you over here this afternoon, Gin? Venting?"

She leaned forward and put her elbows on her knees. "Dad, do you know how many bridesmaids dresses I've tried on? Forty-three. Forty-three bloody fucking dresses. Since Minnie's over in Wales and Martha, you know, talk five-hundred miles an hour Martha, since she's working as one of George's receptionists, I'm the one who she grabs to go try on dresses. Sure, what's my boss going to say? Mum's the big cheese over at _Witch Weekly_, and we're her daughters, but still. That woman's going to sack me soon, I swear it, and I don't think I've worked a solid week there in months. And the stuff she makes me try on? Horrible, Dad, horrible. Frills everywhere, petticoats…petticoats, Dad! Like something out of Gone With the goddamned Wind. Hugo just laughs. And when I finally get home to my tiny little flat what's there but bundle after bundle of wedding magazines, with things marked for me to look at! You know I don't have any room at my place, Dad. Hell, I even tried burning some of those damned magazines in the fireplace but I forgot to take out the perfume samples and I had to sleep with the windows open for three days. Three days! None of the scouring charms or anything else I could think of worked, so I finally gave up and bought all the candles I could and filled the place, now it smells like I live in a fucking strawberry patch. Stop laughing, Dad."

I tried to compose myself. "Sorry, Gin. So I take it your wedding will be different?"

She rolled her eyes. "You have no idea. Thank Merlin Hugo and I haven't even set a date yet, I want to be able to go for a while without even thinking about a wedding."

"Well, you'll be in Italy soon. Still can't believe you're going over there for lessons. When are you leaving again?"

"A few weeks after Mione's wedding. Maybe I'll get to go early when I get sacked. That woman hates me, you know."

"Just get along with her, for your Mom's sake, Gin."

"And Mione, too? I have to pick one, there's only so much bullshit I can put up with at any one time." She pulled her long hair back into a ponytail. "Where's Mum?"

"HR and Lily's. She's watching Artie for the afternoon. Lily had something planned. You know what they're doing?"

"Dad. Do you really think HR and Lily give me their schedules?"

"Good point." I thought about it for a moment and then gave her a small smile. "If you have to pick one pick Mione to be nice to, but for Merlin's sake don't tell your mom. You'll be out of _Witch Weekly_ in a few months, but she is your sister. Just don't get fired, please?"

-ooo-

Two weeks later on a Saturday I found myself in Gideon Bump's back garden, the small one, which meant that it was roughly the size of two Quidditch pitches, overflowing with flowers and marked off from the 'big' garden by the high hedge walls. As I sat next to Gideon, my present of tobacco being employed immediately in the rolling of cigarettes, I took a look around and shook my head. For someone who was part of the biggest wizarding rock band in ages Gideon lived more like a minor Earl or Duke or something. Instead of the clothes I always associated with places like this, though, Gideon had on an ancient pair of jeans, some equally ancient dragonskin low boots and a flannel shirt that had seen much better days, topped of course with his trademark battered driving hat. I took a sip of tea and figured that eventually we'd get to the heart of the matter, the real reason that I'd stopped over. Well, the _real_ real reason.

"I see you've brought summing else, eh?" Gideon eyed my package that sat on the table.

I wondered when he would get around to it, as he hadn't said a word about the bag I carried with me. After I pulled them out I laid them on the table. "Figured you might want to borrow these. Got them a couple of months ago and I thought you'd be interested." I pulled the albums out of the bag and sat them in front of him. A bootleg John Coltrane live album, another bootleg Replacements show and a never released Sigur Ros cd.

He flipped through them, his eyes wide. "Where'd you get th' Coltrane? Never mind; yer right. Ok, so yeh finally came around about th' book and brought over a peace offering, eh?"

I tilted my head thoughtfully for a moment, unsure of how to proceed. "Um, yes and no. I have a request, from my daughter. Mione, the one who plays for the Wasps, she's getting married in June and to be honest she's driving everyone crazy. She has a request…" I sighed. Best to just get on with it. "I'll write the book, but it's more than that. Gideon, I told her she was loony, but she wants the Weird Sisters to play her wedding reception."

He took a puff off of his hand-rolled cigarette and cocked his head at me. "Cor! She wants what, now?"

"Yeah, I know. Listen, I'll tell her I tried. But think about this…wouldn't it be a great last chapter for the book, how the Weird Sisters put everything behind them and got together for a gig? Not the biggest venue, I know, but from how she's planning this damn thing it's going to be huge." He didn't say anything, so I pressed on. "Think of the sales and revenue of the book…I'll…I'll split it fifty-fifty with the band. Everyone will get their chance to tell their story, and I'll be fair. I won't censor anything, so it'll be the real truth, but the readers will want to know how everything happened. You know the kind of shit you see in the papers and magazines; you've always said that nobody's ever done it right. Here's the chance to do it right, and with a capper. Hell, maybe you could record the performance and put it out. Some record sales wouldn't hurt, right?"

Gideon waved his arms around, indicating that I needed to take in the surroundings. "I think I'm doin' more than all right, Hank."

He hadn't said no, so I went for his Achilles heel. "Yeah, but don't you have to make payments to all of your ex-wives?"

"Oh ouch, low blow, mate."

"Sorry." I took a deep breath. "Gid, we've been friends for years. Let me tell you the real reason, besides the fact that you guys are the best Wizarding band ever." I told him about Mione's issues with marrying into the Malfoys, the desire to have people attend and hopefully do away with the ill-feelings. Mostly I told him about how she wanted to put together a wedding that people _wanted_ to attend, a wedding that nobody could resist attending.

After putting out his cigarette Gideon looked over to me with an intense gaze. This was a different Gideon than the one I'd known for at least a decade; he was deadly serious. "I hafta admit, it would be good ter see the lads. You've got one ace in the hole, tho, Hank. I know Merton is a manic Wasps supporter; if'n yer girl went over ter see 'im he might think about it. But I'm not gonna talk to the smarmy git unless the bastard apologizes. Don't ask; he knows what he did."

"I'm sure Mione wouldn't mind paying him a visit." I took the proffered hand-rolled cigarette and leaned over as Gid put out his wand with a small flame at the end. After a good long drag I sighed. "I'm sorry to throw all this on you. And I've got one more wedding coming up, Virginia's getting married next year. Hopefully I'll have recovered by then."

Gideon laughed. "Ah, jus you wait, mate. Gettin' 'em married off's th' hard part. What comes after's better, grandchildren. Spoil 'em rotten an' send 'em home." He took a sip of tea. "So about th' book…"

I nodded. "Right. Guess it'd be best to start in the summer. More time off that way."

He picked up the Coltrane album and flipped it over to look at the track listing printed on the back. "You owe me, Boyd, but this helps."

"Then keep that one. Consider it a 'thank you' gift."

-ooo-

The next day found Melody and me preparing to go over to Malfoy Manor for Sunday dinner. As always, before we visited the Malfoys, Melody took a shot of firewhiskey to steel her nerves, but this time she did two, making me worry that Astoria would think she always smelled like booze.

"Two?" I gave her and odd look. "That bad?"

She rolled her eyes. "Why the bloody hell couldn't we just go over to Forthingsgate? Mione and Scorpius are joining us…"

"Because Astoria invited us, that's why. We're going over the guest list, remember? Since Mione fired her wedding planner we've got more stuff to do. Now come on, it's not that bad. It'll be in the new wing and the food's always good. We don't have to stay too long; besides, I have to get back to Hogwarts later tonight so you've got an early out. Ok?"

She gave me a glare and continued getting dressed, so I took that as a sign to go into the other room and put on my shoes. After being married to her for that long I knew when to leave her alone.

We arrived via Floo in the fireplace of the sitting room in the new wing at Malfoy Manor and Scorpius greeted us alone. "Um, she's up with Mum right now. Since we've got a minute…" He nodded towards the sofa and chairs.

After we sat down on the sofa Scorpius sat tentatively on the chair. "She's a little bit out of control. I don't know what…"

I held up my hand. "You're marrying her, Scorpius. It's all you, now."

Mel elbowed me. "Hank. Stop it." She turned to Scorpius and sighed. "What is it now?"

"Well…" He stopped and glanced towards the doorway. After reassuring himself that nobody would enter soon he launched into it. "She stopped over to see the man from the Weird Sisters."

"Merton."

"Yes, Prof…Hank. Him. From what she told me it wasn't pretty. At first he thought she was there to buy some things; apparently he's selling off his property to make ends meet. When she told him about her proposal, and her gift of season tickets to the Wasps, well…she loaned him money with the stipulation he apologize to Gideon Bump."

"What?" Melody sat up straight on the sofa. "She did _what_?"

Scorpius ran a hand through his hair. "He needed money or he was going to lose his house. Series of bad investments, apparently. I don't really care if The Weird Sisters play at the reception, it doesn't matter to me. I know, she told me about everything, trying to make sure people want to attend and all that, but…"

I put my hand on Melody's arm. "Scorpius, if you ever wanted to know how she really feels about you, there you go. Yes, she likes to spend Galleons, but she's very cautious with money, always has been. I know she has her inheritance and her salary, but…think of the big picture. Is it really worth fighting over something like this?"

"Hi Mum, Dad!" Mione came into the room, pushing Astoria's wheelchair, Draco behind them a few steps. After moving Astoria into the seating area she sat on Scorpius' lap, causing him to exhale sharply. "So what is it now? Trying to change all my plans again?"

I caught Draco's eye and it was obvious that my bald-headed friend had something to say to me privately, later. "No, Mione, we were just talking about all of your plans. We weren't trying to change anything."

From there it fell into the planning session, mostly about the guest list. The big snag was the amount of Muggles that Scorpius wanted to invite, especially as almost all of them didn't know he was a wizard. The friends he wanted to invite were from his school days prior to Hogwarts, when he'd attended Muggle school in Louisiana. The particulars of how to invite them without breaking the secrecy agreements was something that was a bit of a problem, but eventually we decided to take it to the Ministry and ask for an official ruling. There were proper procedures to be followed, after all. The total guest list itself was huge; Mione did seem to have invited almost everyone she knew, and there would be a lot of Ministry officials, not just the ones from Scorpius' department. As I looked over the list Galleons seemed to just slip through my fingers in a never-ending stream. Then again I thought of why Mione was insisting on so many people, and after looking over at Astoria, and remembering everything the Malfoys had done for me I realized it didn't really matter. At least our vault at Gringott's wasn't empty. It would be a lot smaller after the wedding, though. Perhaps that book about The Weird Sisters wasn't such a bad idea after all.

Once the planning part was officially over Draco asked if I would examine a book in his library, and I knew from his earlier glance that there was more to it than just a book. I followed him in, and after we were safely out of earshot from anyone he gave me a small smile.

"I am sure you have ascertained that this little conversation has nothing to do with a book, Hank."

I nodded. "Yep. So what's up, Draco?"

"Mione explained her predicament regarding the musical issue earlier this evening. Apparently a certain wizard has made a series of ill-advised investments and she has decided to assist in remedying the situation."

"Yeah, Scorpius told us." I cocked my head at him. "But there's more to it, isn't there?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Perceptive. I gave Mione the card of one of my associates in Louisiana, a witch who has been most beneficial regarding the management of my property and holdings in the UMS. Antoinette will be happy to assist Mr. Wagtail in restructuring his debt and reinvesting in a more profitable portfolio of holdings."

I got it immediately, and laughed. "And you'll stay behind the scenes, of course."

"Of course." Draco reached over to the bookcase, took out the first book his hand landed on and handed it to me. "What do you think of this, Hank?"

I took a look at the title, something about object enchantment. "Uh…"

"Ah, I was wrong. Perhaps you aren't the best person to ask about that book."

I laughed. "Yeah. So now I looked at your book and we have a plausible excuse for coming in here. What else do you have up your sleeve, Scorpius?"

He returned the book to the bookcase, walked over and stood next to me. "I believe I shall keep that to myself. Now, we had best return to the others before they come looking for us." He didn't move, though. Instead he looked over to me. "Although my father would have been apoplectic if he was alive, I feel as though I must tell you, Hank. Astoria and I could not have asked for a better match for Scorpius."


	4. Mione & Scorpius: The Big Production

**Chapter 4: Mione and Scorpius: The Big Production**

Oh my God did my head hurt. Why the fuck didn't I look in the mirror at least once to remind myself how old I actually am these days? Melody was completely unsympathetic, even threatening me that she wouldn't make me a hangover potion, but if anybody knew how completely miserable and nasty I could be without something to take the edge off a hangover it was her. Why the fucking hell didn't I just go to Scorpius' bachelor party and have a polite two drinks and leave like most fathers of the bride? Jesus, I was invited just as a courtesy, I was sure they didn't expect I'd actually stick around. I blamed James Potter, the little shit. I didn't care if he's a fucking professional Quidditch player or that Harry and Ginny are old friends, I was planning on punching him at the reception. The only good thing was that I had a week to recover before the wedding.

The bachelor party itself was fairly tame for a while until Norman Tewkes, one of Scorpius' mates from the army and his best man, opened the doors of the pub they'd rented out for the evening and invited in the stripper. At least that didn't last long as just as soon as she hit the dance floor and started in on her performance everything stopped abruptly when the boys recognized her. The sad part is that I recognized her as well; a former Gryffindor girl who'd only taken my class until she could drop it. It was worse for Hugo, as I remembered that he dated her briefly and Mione referred to her as slightly smarter than one of Hagrid's dogs. I promised Hugo that I would never, ever tell anyone that he'd dated a stripper. He spent at least fifteen minutes telling me that she wasn't a stripper when he dated her, that it was when they were at Hogwarts and that if Virginia ever found out she'd kill him. I told him that he was lucky, because if anyone could ever laugh that off it would he picked the one daughter of mine that would, but he was subdued for a good half hour after that.

That was the precise moment when James decided to start some drinking game that I'd never heard of; apparently he'd learned it the first training camp with Puddlemere. If Ginny only knew… That's when things started to go bad. Get some competitive young men involved with a drinking game, ex-military, athletes…and me and Draco. At least Draco had the sense to stop early, but I didn't learn. You would have thought that someone my age would have had a clue, but no, apparently age didn't give me wisdom because I joined right in. Thank Merlin that HR kept his wits about him somewhat, even if he did end up wrestling with Alphonse Beauregard, Scorpius' cousin from Louisiana. I'm just glad that Lavender taught him how to handle himself a long time ago because Alphonse is a big kid.

So that's why I was sitting out in the garden with a cup of strong, black coffee and smoking a cigarette when Mione arrived.

"DAD! What the bloody hell…Scorpius told me you stayed with them." She walked over and plopped into the empty garden chair. "I don't know how Mum does it."

"Me neither." I took a sip of coffee. "Wait, she's not here, is she?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, Dad, so you can smoke. Really. At your age…"

"Stuff it. I've had a rough morning." I took a drag off of the cigarette. I had no idea how I got cigarettes but they were in my jeans when I woke up this morning. "So what brings you by at this hour?"

"Scorpius was worried about you, that's what." She shook her head. "How old are you?"

"Mione, not another word on that topic." I took another long drink of coffee and sat there for a while.

"Fine, Dad, I'll play your little waiting game." She sat back in her chair, crossed her legs and began to file her fingernails.

"Right. I'm not planning on sitting here for an hour until you decide to talk. Besides the fact that you wanted to make sure I'm still alive, what brings you by today?"

Mione looked over with her mouth open in shock. "You're kidding me. You honestly…" She let out a very disgusted sigh. "DAD! We have so much to do! Mum gave you the schedule, didn't she?"

_Schedule, schedule…shit._ "Um, I think? Was that the…"

She took out a piece of parchment and her wand, duplicated the parchment and handed it to me. "Here. Pull yourself together; we've got a lot to do today."

I took a look at the paper and inwardly groaned. It was going to be a long day.

-ooo-

When I finally got back to Colony House with Mel the first thing I did was kick off my shoes, walk over to the bar and pour myself a stiff drink.

Melody arched an eyebrow at me. "Henry, do you think that's the best idea? You remember what…"

"Oh yeah, love, I remember. But after today?" I held up another glass.

"Oh Merlin, yes" she sighed.

After I handed her a glass of firewhiskey we sat on the sofa and didn't say a word for a while; instead we silently tried to recover from the whirlwind that was our daughter. We'd made it through about half of the glass when the Floo kicked on.

"Melody, Hank? Do you mind if I pop through?" Hermione Weasley's face shown through the green flames. "Have you eaten?"

I pushed my glasses up onto my head. "We did the final tasting with the caterer so I've had about a metric ton of mints, cakes, hors d'oeuvres…"

Mel elbowed me. "We're not doing anything, Hermione. Come on through."

A few moments later Hermione Weasley sat in the chair across from the sofa in her gardening clothes with a glass of firewhiskey. I knew something was up because she was definitely not the firewhiskey every evening type.

"Melody, Hank…Ron and I have been talking…"

"You mean Ron's been listening." I got another elbow from Mel and a raised eyebrow and a perturbed look from Hermione. "Come on, Hermione, I've know you too long."

She adjusted herself in the chair. "Yes, well…yes, I did most of the talking. But he agreed. We stopped by to see Molly today, just to visit with her and Arthur, and the topic of what Mione is wearing came up. She is my goddaughter, and we want to do something for her, so I asked and Molly agreed. She thinks of you as family, of course, and since I wore it, and Ginny wore it, not to mention Fleur and Victoire, it is a tradition." Hermione reached into her purse up to the elbow, brought out a battered leather case and handed it to Melody. "Do you think she would want to wear it?"

I angled my head to get a good look as Mel opened it up, and as soon as she did even the low-levels of light hit the goblin-wrought metal.

"Hermione…" Mel put a hand to her chest. "It is..oh…thank you." Her almost-crying-because-she's-happy expression quickly faded, though. "Perhaps we'd better ask her; you know how she's been lately."

"Lately? What about today?" I took a sip of firewhiskey and took a look at Hermione. "Do you know how many places we went to today?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes, Gin was over for supper with Hugo. I heard quite a lot about your day."

"I'll just use the Floo." Melody handed me the case and went over to the fireplace. "I think she's at home now."

As Mel convinced Mione that she could absolutely spare a few minutes via the Floo I crossed my legs and chuckled. "Yeah, Hermione, I bet Ron had a lot to say during that conversation. Tiaras are his specialty."

Before long Mione arrived at the house in her pajamas, hair in a bandana and a layer of thick green ooze on her face. "MUM! You didn't tell me Hermione was here!" She hurriedly went into the loo, cleaned off whatever it was on her face, and wasn't in the best mood when she came out. "It's lovely to see you, Hermione, but I have to follow Gaston's regimen _every night_ if I want my skin to look the best. Oh, and I need at least ten hours of sleep each night. What was it you needed, Mum?"

Mel took a deep breath. "Mione, I have something that I think you might…well…are you sure that veil doesn't need something else?"

Mione sat on the floor in front of the WeasleyVision set and looked at the ceiling. "Oh my Merlin…Mum, we've been over and over this, and the stylist said that everything works together, I can't change anything or else it will disturb the vision!"

_What the fuck? _I looked over to Mel. "Disturb the…vision?"

But Mione kept going. "And you knew that, that's why you had Hermione come over here, to gang up on me. Well, it won't work. Everything's settled. Decided that weeks ago. Everything is planned, Mum."

Melody rolled her eyes and handed Hermione the leather case. "Here. She's obviously not listening to me."

As Hermione began to speak and opened the box my daughter's mood changed instantly. I had expected another blow-up, a long talk and then an apology to Hermione, but it didn't happen that way. Mione knew exactly what tiara that was, who had worn it before, and she was up off the floor hugging Hermione before I could say a word. Mione refused to take the tiara with her; instead she asked if Hermione would help her with it the day of the wedding. As the two Hermiones talked about things I looked over to Mel.

"I give up."

She pulled something out of her pocket and handed it to me. "Here, I think you deserve it after today."

I looked down at the small tin and smiled. Pipe tobacco.

-ooo-

Four days before the big day I stood in the waiting area for International Floo arrivals and checked my watch for the umpteenth time; at least it was the only task I had that day. Mione had finally started to not be as, well, as Mione as she had been lately. Mostly it was due to the fact that the tasks were dwindling, but I also knew that Astoria had a quiet word with her the other day. That chapped Mel's ass, that Mione would listen to Astoria rather than her, but then I asked her whether she listened to my mom or her mom when we first were married. That shut her up right away and also meant that I had to clean the dishes. Win some, lose some. Eventually they finally arrived, Nate and Ted carrying the bags. My family had arrived from the UMS, er, America, right on schedule.

After greeting everyone and realizing exactly how old my parents were I had Nonky take the luggage away and then led them to the VW van. Nate slid into the passenger seat and shook his head.

"Sure, Hank, have the house elf do the luggage but we have to ride in this old heap."

"And how am I getting Mom and Dad back to Colony House?"

"Portkey? Hello?" He knocked on my head with his knuckles I smacked him in the stomach."

"BOYS!" Mom's voice came from the magically expanded backseat area. "We haven't been here five minutes. How old are you two?"

"He's old." Ted, my youngest brother, smiled from the backseat. "But not as old as Jen."

Mom looked over at Jen and shook her head. "I don't know if I'll be able to manage. They were much easier when I could punish them."

Eventually we made our way onto the road and I got off of the M1 as soon as possible. Driving with everyone was bad enough, but with my VW and it's crap power on the M1? Not for the faint of heart. We settled in and after we finally decided that Dean Martin was the only thing that wouldn't drive everyone insane we headed north to Scotland. It was during the long drive that most of the family fell asleep due to jet lag, well, portkey lag, but two people stayed awake: Nate and my niece Paige.

"Uncle Hank, I got a letter from Mione the other day."

"Not surprised, Paige." I signaled and passed a very slow-moving lorry. "What about this time?"

"Her checklist." She took out a piece of paper. "Um, she suggested that I go over things with you just to make sure. Since you're a captive audience, you know."

"Y'all are crazy." Nate shook his head. "I'm telling Claire to enjoy being a flower girl today, because when she gets married…"

"You'll do whatever she wants." I shook my head. "Nate, she's got you wrapped around her finger. Not to mention Lavender."

"Fuck off."

"Kiss my ass."

We both glanced back to make sure Mom was asleep, and then I looked at Paige via the rear-view mirror. "Ok, what's on the checklist?"

She unfolded a piece of parchment. "Well, some stuff's already marked off. Dress, flowers, caterer, music, dresses, lingerie…"

Nate started laughing so I reached over and smacked him upside the head. "Fuck off, asshole." I shook my head. "Sorry, Paige, keep going."

"Sorry Uncle Hank, should've skipped that one. Um, let's see…welcome baskets for the out-of-town guests, bridesmaid and groomsman gifts, gifts for the gift attendant and the guestbook attendant, me. After that it's mostly logistics, making sure Grandma and Grandpa get settled in, making sure that the bridesmaids and groomsmen are all accounted for…oh, and breaking in the shoes she's wearing that day. You know, I think it won't be too bad."

I shook my head and wondered when I'd be able to sneak away for my pipe. "That's what I thought, too. Just wait, Paige. Your cousin is a bit mental these days. Yes, I used the word 'mental,' fuck off, Nate."

-ooo-

The morning of the wedding broke crystal clear in Stintborough, and even though I had no idea what the weather would be like in London the fact that it was warm, not windy and definitely not raining struck me as a good sign. When I rolled over and found an empty bed next to me instead of Mel, well, it didn't take a rocket scientist or Rowena Ravenclaw to figure out why my wife was awake. After I put on a t-shirt and some pajama bottoms I made my way out into the kitchen where Mel sat in her housecoat with tea next to my sister.

I poured a cup of tea, kissed Mel on the head and sat down. "Only two more to go, love."

Jen kicked me under the table. "Nice, Hank, real nice. I just got her to stop and you had to…"

Mel dabbed at her eyes with a napkin. "No, he's right, Jen. It's just hard to believe it's actually happening. And I _know_ we've been over and over it, Hank, but…the Malfoys. I'm going to be related to the Malfoys."

Jen patted her on the arm. "They seemed all right to me. He's a nice boy, and his parents seem ok. Well, Dad's a little stuffy…"

"Um, Jen, didn't anybody ever tell you the whole story?" I sat back in my chair. "Shit. This is going to take a while."

My sister gave me an annoyed look. "They can't be that bad. And yes, Lavender tried to tell me some things but after a while I just couldn't keep up. Wizarding wars, Death Eats or something like that…you may live in this world but I'm just a Muggle, Hank. All I asked was this; is he a good kid? Is he good to her? Does he love her? Does she love him? Does he have a good job? I got 'yes' answers back on all of that, so the hell with everything else. It's their day and their life. All you have to do is be there to support them today, that's it."

Jen's words sunk in for me as well as Melody, as neither of us said anything for a while. Sure, I'd basically said the same things all along but it sounded different coming out of Jen's mouth.

As Melody dabbed her eyes Jen reached for another muffin. "Besides, Mom's been over there the whole time, and they went out to dinner with Mione and Scorpius. Still can't believe that's his real name, but…anyway, I saw Mom after that and Mom loves him. If that's not good enough for you then I don't know what to say."

Mel took a deep breath. "Oh, I know you're right, it's…just going to take some getting used to."

-ooo-

I had just finished my light lunch and was walking around the grounds of Forthingsgate when I heard someone call my name. After squinting against the sun I realized it was Ron Weasley. I waved at him and waited for him to walk over, unsurprised that he was out wandering like me. Mel, Hermione and the girls were all upstairs with Mione. I had nothing to do.

"How you holding up, Hank?" Ron shook my hand. "Ready for all this?"

"I'm just really for it all to be over, to be honest with you. Ok, I'm ready for the reception. Walking her down the aisle? That's going to be tough."

"Nah." Ron shook his head. "That's the easy part. Watching your daughter become Mrs. Not Your Last Name, realizing she's someone else's wife? That's the hard part." He looked away, over towards the edge of the property for a moment and was silent; then, after a few minutes, he reached into his formal robes and handed me something. "Figured you could use this."

I took the cigar from him and gave him a grin. "Just for the record, I don't believe any of those things people say about you, Ron. You are a gentleman and a scholar."

"Piss off." He was silent for a while. "Mione still mad Scorpius' mates couldn't come? I know he wanted those Muggles to attend, but…can't go breaking the secrecy agreements for her, even if she is my goddaughter."

"She's fine now. Had a bit of a blow-up but HR talked to her." I looked over to Ron and once again he was looking out towards the edges of the property. "What in hell are you looking at?"

"Oh." He shuffled his foot for a moment against a leaf. "Just checking security. Harry's got 'em sorted, but…you know."

"Yeah." I looked out towards the trees and didn't see anything. "Thanks for that."

He shrugged. "Won't be able to see too many of 'em, but we've got some Malfoy relation up at the entrance gate taking invitations. If anybody thinks that's all we've got on than they're really thick." He turned to me. "You gonna light that thing or what?"

"Can you do Charlie's trick to make the smoke smell go away? No? Then I think I'll wait."

"Suit yourself." He took a deep breath. "Still can't believe Blondie's marrying him. I know, he's a good kid, but I didn't think this day would really come. Looked so good seeing Boyd on the back of her kit. Now it's gonna be Malfoy. That'll take some getting used to."

I laughed. "Figures that you'd be worried about her Quidditch jersey."

"Worried?" Ron rolled his eyes. "I'm not worried. Besides, she'll sell even more now, fans will have to have the new one." He put his arm around me. "Come on, Hank, let's go see if we can pinch anything from the kitchens. I'm starving."

-ooo-

I did my part mingling with the early guests, snuck off with Charlie Weasley and had a cigarette instead of my cigar, and thanks to his nice little trick with the wand my breath smelled minty-fresh as I stood in the upstairs library of Forthingsgate watching guests arrive outside. The time was rapidly approaching for things to begin, but something caught my eye. Well, not something, someone. There, walking across the grounds with a woman was Al Potter. Al Potter with no beard and short hair, to be exact. I couldn't believe it, he'd actually decided to come out of self-imposed exile after his wife's death and attend the wedding! I wasn't too surprised, as even though he was my godson it was a well-established fact that Mione when she was younger thought that she would be walking down the aisle to meet him instead of Scorpius. I couldn't figure out who he was with, and I was somewhat surprised when he sat on Scorpius' side of the aisle with his date.

Apparently I wasn't the only one who noticed as it looked like Harry had to almost sit on Ginny to keep her from going over there. The Potters were up towards the front of the seats, so for Ginny to do that she would have had to crawl over people. I knew I'd have to have a word with Al later.

"Dad?"

I turned to see Minnie in the doorway in her pale yellow bridesmaid's dress. If Minnie was there I knew what that meant. "Is she ready?"

Min rolled her eyes. "Oh hell. She's been fussing over everything for the last hour. What you heard when we did the pictures? Tip of the iceberg. But yeah, she's ready, Dad."

I hugged Minnie and kissed her on top of her head. "You look beautiful. Time to get things started, then."

We walked downstairs and into the back parlor, the one with the French doors that opened out into the garden. The bridesmaids and groomsmen stood there, waiting. I looked over to the door that led into the parlor and knew that in moments my daughter would walk out of there as Hermione Boyd for the last time.

It was while I was caught up in my thoughts that they started walking out to the garden in pairs and soon it was just me, Minnie and Nate's daughter Claire left. Minnie was giving Claire last minute instructions on how to do the flower petals when the door opened and she walked out.

I thought I had seen my daughter happy before. I thought she was happy when she got her wand, I thought she was happy when she made the Quidditch team, I thought she was happy when she signed her contract with the Wimbourne Wasps, but all that paled in comparison to that moment. She was positively radiant, beautiful, and the fact that she had on the goblin-made earrings and necklace I gave Mel when we got married, not to mention Auntie Muriel's tiara, were nothing compared to her face. My daughter was ecstatically happy. That was all I needed to see.

"Well, Mione, are you ready?"

She walked over to me and took my arm, her dress and train rustling about. One of her Quidditch teammates helped adjust her train, kissed her on the cheek and headed out a side door. "Yes, Dad." She was silent for a few moments. "I wish Grandmum Lane was here."

I nodded. "I do too, sweetie, but I think she can see fine from where she is now." The music began to swell. "I just want you to know that your mom and I love you very much. We're very happy for you." I kissed her on her cheek. "Now should we go make Scorpius happy, too?"

The doors opened and I straightened up in my dress robes. Mione held my arm a little tighter with hers as we slowly made our way down the very long aisle, Claire yards ahead of us throwing petals delicately on the ground. The amount of people was staggering. As we slowly made our way towards a beaming Scorpius I saw several people in attendance that surprised me, but I knew I'd talk to them later. My only goal was to keep Mione on her feet.

Eventually we arrived and the officiant stepped up. "Who gives this woman to be married?"

I took a deep breath and then said it very loudly and clearly. "Her mother and I." I lifted her veil, kissed her and then sat down in the front row next to Mel.

As Mione took Scorpius' hand and stepped up to the top step of the little dais I took Melody's hand. She gripped my hand tightly and I knew what was coming, so I pulled out one of my handkerchiefs and handed it to her. From there on out it was as Mione had hoped, a beautiful ceremony. Everything went without a hitch and soon the officiant pronounced them man and wife. As they kissed I realized that as much as my heart swelled at HR and Lily's wedding, it was different as a father to see your daughter get married.

-ooo-

The reception was, as Hugo said, 'a bloody brilliant time' for everyone involved. After the photographs and speaking to Mike and Cho Greene I went to make my way over to get a drink when I ran into Al Potter being harangued by Ginny, Rosie and Hermione. I saved him from that and found out about his date. Apparently they hadn't known each other for long, but when he mentioned that he stopped by his first in-laws' house earlier that day I knew that Al was going to be ok. That helped put my mind at ease, and hopefully it would for Ginny and Harry as well. I promised Al I'd talk to him later, and meet his date, but I had other things to attend to.

After the reception line everyone moved over to the dancing area that had been setup and I walked behind the stage to talk to Gideon Bump. "Thanks again, Gid. You've made my daughter very happy."

He stubbed out his cigarette with a dragon-hide boot and clapped his hand on my shoulder. "An' that book'll make us very happy, won't it, lads?" The rest of the band added their assent to his statement and then he nudged me. "Git yer sorry arse out there and dance wi' yer daughter, mate."

I made my way back out to the dancing area and soon the Weird Sisters were on stage and the music began. I took Mel's hand and we watched as Mione and Scorpius had their first dance together. After the song ended Mione made a beeline towards me and instead of beginning to dance she just hugged me.

"Thank you so much, Dad! I know I've been awful, but…"

"Shush, Mione. It's your wedding. Only do it once. Hopefully."

"Dad!"

She smiled and then we began to dance. I was quite content to just dance but Mione wanted to talk.

"Dad, did you know Al is here? He even brought a date! Oh, and he cut his hair and shaved, I almost didn't recognize him for a second until he said 'Congratulations, squirt.' I'm so glad he's back. I even met some of Mr. and Mrs. M's relatives from the UMS."

"I saw Al, and I knew Draco would get some of his relatives to come over. So did it go like you wanted?"

She stopped dancing and hugged me again. "I love you, Dad."

"I love you, too."

-ooo-

After the official wedding dancing, including one dance where I forced Astoria to come out on the dancefloor with me, everyone settled into either dancing to the Weird Sisters or eating, drinking or cake. The cake was massive, I think something like five foot high, so getting a piece of that wasn't going to be a problem for people. It was while I was getting another piece for myself, one with extra icing, that I heard my name. Al stood there with his date, and to be honest the woman seemed a bit nervous for a second and straightened her dress, which to be honest was a tad short. Good legs, though.

"Hank, I'd like you to meet Delyth Lewis. Delyth, this is my godfather, Professor Hank Boyd."

I shook the woman's hand. "Nice to meet you, Delyth."

She cocked her head at me for a second. "Wait a tic, I know you…you wrote that book."

"Yep, that's me. Wait, which book?"

"The one about finding out you were only one percent…"

"1.3 percent." Al cupped his hand over her ear and stage whispered "he's very sensitive about the exact percentage."

I shook my head at him. "Good one, Al. So, Delyth, how's the gauntlet gone?"

She smiled at Al. "It's been rather fun, actually. Told a few stories, might have embellished things a wee bit."

"A wee bit?" Al slipped his arm around her. "You had Granny Molly thinking you…well…" He looked over to me. "She was telling George-quality stories."

"Oh." I nodded. "And how'd your mum take those, Al?"

"Yeah." He exhaled deeply. "Mum is…well…"

"Right." I picked up a piece of cake. Extra icing. "Always have a spare bedroom if you want to hide out. Now, uh, I don't know about you two but I could use another drink."

-ooo-

As the night went on I found myself alternating between chameleon champagne, firewhiskey, Bill's Specials and Flaming Dragons, a drink that Delyth introduced me to and I should have known better. I should have decided to stick with one of those drinks and call it good, but somehow I never did. Instead I simply drank whatever someone handed me, whether it was Neville or George, and that's how it came about.

I was sitting out near the band when Draco came over and sat down next to me. It was obvious from the way he sat down that he'd had a few as well, not to mention that his normally immaculate dress robes were somewhat messed up and his tie was loosened.

"We did it, Hank!" He clinked his glass against mine and we emptied them both. "I know I've said it a multitude of times, but she's the best thing that could have happened to Scorpius."

I put my arm around him and leaned in. "You said it. She's so fucking happy it's almost sickening. If she wasn't my daughter I think I might barf."

"Don't say that." Draco shook his head. "The barfing part."

"Right. No barf." I reached behind me to grab the bottle that I'd convinced George to snag from the bar and sloppily poured the firewhiskey into our empty glasses. "Here we go, little more. I mean, why not? Not like we're going to do this again."

Draco gave me an odd look. "You're doing it again."

I looked him in the eye. "You got any more kids?"

"No."

"Then we're not doing it again." The camera flash almost blinded me and I glanced up to see a man wave at us and then walk away. "Who th' fuck was that?"

"Dennis Creevey. His brother died at Hogwarts." Draco drained his glass. "Hit me again, Hank."

"Oh hell, sorry, Draco." I poured out the firewhiskey. "Today of all days, I'm sorry."

He took a drink and waved me off. "That's why I'm so happy that Scorpius married Mione. We're so happy. Astoria's on cloud nine." He closed his eyes for a moment. "They'll change the Malfoy name, too late for me. I had my chance. Blew it. I was a coward, Hank. They'll change it."

"HENRY AARON MACDONALD BOYD!"

I looked up to see Mel pushing Astoria's wheelchair. "Oh shit."

Draco looked over to me. "No, shite."

"Shit."

"Shite."

"Fuck off."

* * *

><p>When I woke up the next day there were three hangover potions and a note on the nightstand by my side of the bed. The note said to take the big one first, the green one in about an hour and the small vial about two hours after that. I recognized Lily's handwriting from class, and I knew I'd have to thank my daughter-in-law nicely sometime down the road. I followed the instructions, took a shower, and then walked into the kitchen.<p>

"Well, look who finally decided to haul his ass out of bed."

"Good morning to you, too, Nate. One other thing, fuck off."

"Hank!" My mom sat at the kitchen table along with Nate, Lavender and Melody. "How old are you?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, is there tea? Coffee?" I sat down next to Melody who was busy reading _The Daily Prophet_. "How bad was I last night?"

She folded the paper crisply. "Well, let's see, shall we?" She reached under her teacup and pulled out an envelope. "Good thing your former students like you, Hank."

I opened the envelope and read the note first.

_Professor Muggle,_

_Thought you might like to have a copy of this. I have the other copy and I convinced Mr. Creevey that even though the picture might sell papers it wouldn't do for you or Mr. Malfoy to have it available for everyone to see. Just remember that when you assign homework next term._

_Liv Wandsworth_

The picture showed me and Draco, soundly in our cups, arm-in-arm and singing. Holy shit. "Good thing Angus and Liv's girl's good in class, or else she could've…yeah."

Melody took the picture and the note from me and replaced them in the envelope. "Yes, well, I'll take this for safekeeping. Now do pull yourself together, we're seeing them off soon. We have to be at Forthingsgate in an hour."

I squinted at her and felt my head slosh. "An hour? I thought we were going over there at one this afternoon?"

Nate tapped me on top of my bald spot. "Hey drunky, it's noon."

I swatted his hand away. "Oh go f…" I saw my mom and Melody give me 'the look' so I stopped. "Go find something else to do."

-ooo-

When we arrived at Forthingsgate it was obvious that Hugo's 'bloody brilliant' reception was true not just for me, as Ron didn't look so great. Draco, annoyingly, looked as he always did. Bastard. Melody went over to visit with Hermione and I sat down on one of the sofas next to Martha, Mione's Hogwarts roommate. I forgot what I was getting myself into.

Martha turned to me, her eyes wide. "Oh hi Professor Muggle, don't you think it was a beautiful ceremony? I know I did and so did the Prophet they had a three-page spread in today's edition and I thought that Witch Weekly might have some things in there because Melody's the editor but that might look bad so I don't know but maybe she should just put in a picture of Albus Potter because he was there with a date and Mione said that she was happy for him but she didn't know the woman and I thought she looked older than Albus but it's hard to tell because he's so young…"

I nodded. "Thanks, Martha. So Mione says you've moved out…"

"Oh yes I couldn't live here when she and Scorpius got married well I'm staying here while they're on their honeymoon but I got a flat in London and it's easier to Floo over to work that way I love working for George Weasley even though it's as a receptionist he says I'm the most entertaining receptionist he's ever had but I don't know why because I can't do any tricks like he does but Gilbert my boyfriend says I'm perfect for the place."

Lily sat down next to me with Artie. I took Artie from her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "You're a lifesaver, do you know that?"

She laughed and whispered "don't worry, I made plenty. Your son was the same way this morning" in my ear.

Before I had a chance to respond the Floo roared to life and Mr. and Mrs. Scorpius Malfoy stepped out. Everyone greeted them and eventually they sat on one of the sofas. Mione proceeded to tell everyone that she was so thankful for everything they'd done, especially putting up with her, and that we were all coming over to Forthingsgate soon for a dinner as a proper thank you. I watched as Mione thanked Ron and Hermione, her grandparents and the rest of her relatives, and then her new in-laws. When she came over to me she gave me a giant hug.

"Thanks so much, Dad."

"You're welcome, Mione. I hoped it was what you wanted. There were a ton of people there, you know."

She nodded. "I was so happy that so many of Scorpius' family could make it. Some of them weren't the nicest to me, but that's to be expected. My dad is Professor Muggle."

"I know." I chuckled. "What'd your coach say? I saw him talking to you."

"Oh Merlin." She rolled her eyes. "He told me that going on my honeymoon was no reason to forget my contract. You know, Dad. The clause?"

I nodded as I knew that she was talking about the pregnancy clause. "So, where are you going for your honeymoon?"

Scorpius must have overheard my question as he took Mione's hand and helped her up. "I'm sorry, but we do need to catch the portkey soon. As for where we're going, I decided to show Mione some of my favorite things. We're going to New Orleans. We've booked the honeymoon suite at the Vanishing Spectre."

I glanced over to Mel and she shook her head. "Scorpius, do they at least have a decent cooling system now?"

He smiled. "Yes, Mum."


	5. Minnie and Alan: Surprise, Surprise

**Minnie and Alan: Surprise, Surprise**

_9 August, 2031_

I was settling in for a good night of football. Everton were starting the Premier season with Arsenal, and it was shaping up to be a good night, as I'd cleared everything off of my schedule. I had a cold six pack of Newcastle Brown Ale, cheese and onion crisps, and George Weasley had found a way to port Muggle television to the WeasleyVision set, so instead of just having a regular TV screen it was like I was there. It was the first time I had the chance to watch the Blues in the new format, so I was really excited. It didn't last long.

"Hank? Hank, we have a change of plans." Melody walked around the corner, carrying a note. "We're going to have company."

_Shit. _I pointed to the WeasleyVision. "Come on, Mel! It's the first match of the season! George just got it hooked up and…"

"There will be other football matches." She shook her head at me. "This is important, Hank. Minnie's bringing a boy over to meet us."

That got my attention. "Really? Tonight? Not much notice." I pushed my glasses up to the top of my head. "This isn't just a little 'oh we'll stop by' thing, is it?"

"No, Henry. I believe she's very serious about him, from what I gathered from her note. And from what Mione's said."

_What? _"You didn't tell me about any of this. How long has she been going out with him?"

Mel shrugged. "Honestly, Henry. I told you that she said she'd been on a few dates. It's been going on for a while, apparently. Obviously she wanted to keep things quiet; you know her. He teaches at Pryderi. Now go change your clothes, I won't have you meeting Minnie's young man while dressed like that."

"Her _young man_? Who are you, my Granny?" I stood up, took a swig of beer. "Fine, but I'm not getting really dressed up. If she's bringing him here to meet us I'm not going to pretend to be something I'm not."

"You're being difficult, Hank. Remember, be nice. She has to be nervous."

I took another drink of beer and carried the bottle with me towards the bedroom. "Why would she be nervous, Mel? It's just us."

"Yes, Hank, but think about it. You knew Hugo, Lily and Scorpius when they were at Hogwarts." She didn't say anything for a while, but eventually she gave me the 'you're being thick' look.

"Oh."

-ooo-

Melody had decided we'd meet them in the garden, so when I was appropriately dressed I walked out there to find her putting the tablecloth on the little garden table. Mel was wearing tan Capri pants and a navy polo shirt, a white hair band on her head and my comment that she was wearing Everton colors just to spite me led to a fleetingly disgusted look. I'd consoled myself by putting on one of my favorite pair of jeans, the comfortable ones with a hole in the back pocket and a button-down collar shirt which I left untucked and halfway rolled up the sleeves. As I helped set the table Mel looked down and shook her head.

"Flip-flops, Hank? Minnie's bringing over her boyfriend to meet us and you're wearing those?"

"What's wrong with flip-flops? It's August. Should I go put on my seersucker suit and bow tie?"

"Why are you being so difficult, Hank?" She set down the silverware and crossed her arms. "This is important. Minnie wouldn't bring him over if she didn't think…"

And that's when it hit me. This wasn't just the 'I'd like you to meet my boyfriend' visit, this was the 'I think you should meet my parents because things are getting serious' visit. HR was already married, Mione was already married, Gin was engaged to Hugo but with all that was going on there…and now Minnie…holy shit. I knew I was getting old, but…damn.

Luckily I didn't have much time to think on it as Minnie and her boyfriend showed up. She looked happy, but I found myself scrutinizing him as if I was an Auror. A little taller than Min, brown hair, kind of chubby and it looked like he wasn't very fit. He was wearing jeans, sensible and boring shoes and a white shirt that looked freshly pressed. No earrings or piercings, but then again I didn't expect Minnie to go for something like that. Pretty normal, but the normal ones could fool you, turn out all Norman Bates or have an extensive collection of locks of their ex-girlfriends hair, bagged, tagged and indexed in a shoebox under the bed for personal purposes. Melody greeted them, and I watched him hand her a bottle of wine. At least the boy had manners. That was when I saw Minnie, and she caught my eye. It was obvious that she was anxious, as she pursed her lips several times. I knew what that meant, so I walked over to the two of them, trying to put on my best face and stop pretending I was an Auror. Minnie had brought him over, so that meant be nice.

"Dad?" Minnie glanced over to him for a second and then turned to me. "Dad, I'd like you to meet Alan Finnegan."

I stuck out my hand and he shook it. At least he didn't have a weak handshake. "Hank Boyd. Nice to meet you."

"You too, sir. Minnie's told me so much about you."

I raised an eyebrow. "Hopefully the good stuff. And don't believe what you've read." I chalked up his soft-spoken voice to nerves and noticed Mel out of the corner of my eye motion to the table. "Looks like the table's ready. Don't know about you but I could use a cup of tea."

As we sat down it became a somewhat awkward conversation, full of fits and stops. In the course of a cup of tea I found out that Alan was two years older than Minnie, went to Pryderi and was now the Transfiguration professor. It figured that Minnie would find another academic and helped explain his boring shoes. Not everybody could be me. He seemed a nice kid, very polite, originally from Liverpool, and we spent most of the time chatting about school and students, as well as my textbook, since he'd used it when he attended Pryderi. His grandfather was Welsh so his parents had decided to send him there instead of Hogwarts. I figured the Welsh school couldn't be all bad if it used my textbook and had hired my daughter, so it was it was when I was feeling a little more comfortable and in slightly less of a critical mood that Alan really surprised me. He was talking to Mel about something when he stopped all of the sudden, apologized, reached his hand into his pocket and looked at something under the table. From the expression on his face I could tell that whatever it was he wasn't happy about it.

"Alan!" Minnie shook her head quickly. "I thought we talked about that. Really?"

He sighed and looked over to her. "Sorry, love. It's just…" He looked up to me and Melody. "I do apologize, I promised her I would turn it off but I had it on vibrate. Down one already, can't believe it."

I chuckled. "Didn't know Quidditch matches were on mobile phones. Mione doesn't have a match, is it a different league?"

Minnie crossed her arms. "I _knew_ this would happen. Go ahead, tell him. Go on."

Alan ducked his head a bit and then looked up at me. "Arsenal just went up on Everton."

"Holy shit!" I leaned forward. "You follow Everton? Come on, match is on, I had George hack the WeasleyVision set." Before Melody said a word I motioned towards the house and he followed me in. After following George's instructions, which I'd written down, we got the match on and it was like we were there at Goodison Park.

"This is amazing, sir!" Alan sat on the sofa while I settled into my chair. "It's…Dad would be gobsmacked!"

"Thanks, and you can cut out the 'sir' stuff. So, Alan, if you went to Pryderi how did you end up following The Blues?"

"Oh, my whole family are Muggles. Had no idea until I got my letters from Pryderi and Hogwarts, well, except for the little things I couldn't explain. Finally made sense, then. Granddad's Welsh, so Dad told him I got letters from, ah, special schools in Scotland and Wales and that was that. Pryderi it was. Oh, that's a foul!"

I flipped off the referee. "Come on you fucking ref, are you blind?" I glanced over at him. "Sorry about the language and the, uh, finger."

He laughed. "You should hear and see Dad when the match is on. Mum's given up on it until the last whistle, then she lets him hear it."

"Smart woman. She needs to talk to Mel."

-ooo-

We watched until halftime, and the score had stayed the same, so we were both a little irritated as the referee was possibly one of the worst in the whole Premier League and we both thought that the Arsenal striker had done a blatant dive late in the half to give Everton a yellow card. I was in a crappy mood about the match so I suggested that we head out to the shed so I could show him my old Morris Minor, but in reality I really wanted to smoke my pipe for a bit. When we made it into the shed I looked over to him.

"Ok, here's the rules. Don't tell my wife." I opened a toolbox, pulled out my pipe and much to my surprise he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pouch of very nice tobacco. After I'd finished laughing I took the pouch from him. "Looks like you were briefed on how to get on my good side."

He shrugged. "It's common knowledge about the pipe, really. But yes, I was briefed, as you say."

After gladly accepting the tobacco, filling the pipe and then lighting it I went over to my little fridge and pulled out a couple of beers. "I know it's early, but it's half, and…want a beer?"

I handed him a bottle of India Pale Ale and he nodded. "My brothers are the same, worse when we have the Derby."

"Stupid Reds. So how'd you end up an Everton fan instead of a Liverpool fan?"

"Dad and my brothers. Just always seemed that way, family's always been for Everton. Dad said he'd disown me if I became a Reds supporter."

He took a drink and suddenly looked very, very nervous. He was also very quiet. I knew what was happening, what was going on in his mind, and I instantly felt sorry for him. It also made me feel bad about how I'd scrutinized him as if he was asking to borrow all of my records. I also felt very honored, as Hugo and Scorpius had surprised not only the girls but me and Mel, and now Alan was doing the proper thing. Leave it to Minnie to have someone who wanted to do things the old-fashioned way. I puffed on my pipe and waited a bit, and his nervousness grew. Finally after fiddling with his watch for a bit, he looked me directly in the eye.

"Professor, I have something to ask you. Minerva and I have been seeing each other for quite a while now, and…I've never met anyone like her. She's just…well…"

As I took in the look on his face all wariness about him seemed to evaporate; I walked over and put my arm around the boy. "Tell me this, Alan. Do you see yourself spending the rest of your life with anybody else? Does she make you happy? Do you want to make her happy?"

"Merlin, yes. All of it."

"Then ask."

He took a very deep breath. "Professor Boyd, I'd like to have your permission to ask Minerva to marry me."

I nodded. "Yes, Alan. You have my permission. Just know that she's her own woman, and just because I've given you my permission will mean she'll…she's got her own mind, but I'm sure you already knew that."

"Oh yes, Professor."

I waved him off. "Stop that, Professor. Just do names, much easier."

"It's Instructor at Pryderi, but never mind. That's one down; just have the big one next."

I sat my beer down on the workbench. "You haven't asked her yet?"

"No, Pr…Hank. Had to ask you first, wouldn't be proper otherwise."

The door opened to show Melody and Minnie looking slightly irritated. Melody cocked her head to the side and sighed. "Honestly, Hank? Do you have to take every opportunity to sneak out to the shed? It isn't like I don't know what you're doing out here. What have you two been talking about for so long?"

I glanced at Alan and his eyes were wide. I took another puff of my pipe and shrugged. "The match, of course."

-ooo-

Later that evening, when Minnie and Alan had left after supper, one of my better spur-of-the-moment concoctions, the Floo roared to life with the head of Hermione Weasley.

"Sorry to bother you, but…"

I waved her off. "We aren't doing anything, come on over."

A few moments later the Weasleys arrived, Ron with something in his hand. It turned out that the Aurors had nabbed a man selling contraband WeasleyVision movies in Knockturn Alley, and Ron had kept one of the movies for himself. Strictly against protocol, but when I saw the title of the movie I knew why he couldn't resist. It was one of those underground films, the ones that don't go through the proper release channels, and it was about, well, me.

"Holy shit, Ron. When'd this come out?"

He shrugged. "Dunno, Hank. It was with the rest of the lot. Really crap movies, one even had a lot of starkers women on the front. Seamus kept that one."

"I'm not surprised." I looked over to Mel. "Hey, want to see yourself on WeasleyVision?"

With that we settled in to watch 'Professor Muggle: Action Professor.' The atmosphere was tense, but that had nothing to do with the film. Mel and Hermione had had quite the row the last time the two of them were together, due do the strained relationship and doubtful future of their son Hugo and Virginia. Apparently they had decided on an unspoken agreement to not mention it, as Ron started everything up. The beginning showed me, or at least the guy who was playing me, drive up to a castle that was supposed to be Hogwarts in a Jensen Interceptor. How they decided that's what I would drive was beyond me, but I was happy that they thought I drove a cool car. We'd watched the rest of the title scenes, and I'd just stepped out, fully kilted in the middle of the day for no apparent reason, when the Floo took away everyone's attention. Minnie's head was in the green flames, and she was very, very excited.

"MUM! Let me through!"

"Oh Merlin!" Melody sprang up from her chair, halfway tripping over Ron's extended legs. "Is something wrong? Is it Alan?"

"Alan?" Hermione turned to me. "Who is Alan?"

I waved her off. "Just wait, you'll see."

Moments later Minnie came through the Floo and didn't bother to brush off the Floo powder. She gave Melody a big hug and proceeded to tell her that she was engaged. That led to a giant tumult, as Hermione went over and the women all gathered around Minnie, their previous tension forgotten and admired her ring, peppering her with questions for the details. As Ron and I stood behind them he looked over to me.

"You don't seem surprised."

"He asked my permission in the shed earlier today."

He gave me an odd look. "You're taking this pretty well, have you been drinking?"

"Yes, but it was a couple of hours ago. During the match, Everton and Arsenal. Ended one-all."

"Bugger the match, Hank. What do you think of him? Do I need to do some background?"

That made me roll my eyes, as back during the asshole Headmaster Flurbin's reign I'd asked Ron to check him out, but he refused saying that even though he was an Auror he couldn't check people out for no reason. Obviously the fact that one of his goddaughters was engaged made Ron think about throwing the rulebook out the window. "From everything I can tell he's a good kid, Ron. Don't think you'll have to worry about him. Only wizard in a family of Muggles."

Ron chuckled and smacked me on the arm. "Finally got someone to talk Muggle stuff with."

Before I could say anything else Minnie was there, her arms wrapped around my waist. "Dad, can you believe it?"

I smoothed her hair and nodded. "I can, Min, I can. From our little visit he seems like a good guy. He wasn't pulling the Everton stuff just to get on my good side, was he?"

Ron shook his head and looked at his goddaughter. "Wait a tic, let me get this straight. He knows Muggle stuff, follows the same team that your Dad follows…if you tell me he's bonkers about Muggle music…

"Shut up, Ron." I turned back to Minnie. "I'm very happy for you, sweetie."

-ooo-

It was late that night when I was reading in bed that Melody rolled over and propped her head up with her hand, elbow resting in the pillow. "Hank?"

"Mmmm?" I put the book down. "Yeah?"

"I know I should be really happy for Minnie, and I am, but I can't help but think about Virginia."

I exhaled deeply. "Yeah. I know. I was thinking about that earlier. You noticed that Ron and Hermione didn't say a word, right? Maybe Gin just needed some time away from everything, to get her head straight. Everything happened pretty fast."

"But she sent the ring back, Hank. Why would she do that? I swear if I don't hear something soon you'll have to check me into the mental ward at St. Mungo's." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I think we've given her enough time to sort things out. We need to talk to Harry."

I closed my book and sat it on the bedside table. "Ok. I'll stop by and talk to him tomorrow." I took off my glasses and placed them on top of the book. "Not at the Ministry, though. Don't want it to really get out that we have no idea where our daughter is. Maybe Harry will have some ideas. You know, he's asked me before if I wanted to go through some 'unofficial' channels to find her. Maybe it's time we quietly tried that."

"First thing in the morning, Hank. I can't imagine Minnie getting married without Gin being there." She ran a hand over my bald head. "You know some people say that we marry people that remind us of our parents. I couldn't help think of that when we met Alan."

I gave her an odd look. "You go right from worrying about Gin to that? No transition? Who are you and what have you done with my wife?"

She rolled her eyes. "We've another wedding to plan, Hank. He is a nice boy, isn't he?"

"Yeah, he seems like a good kid." I nodded. "And he's not like me, he teaches Transfiguration. Much different than Muggle Studies."

"Honestly, Hank. Think about it. He likes the same football team as you, grew up as a Muggle, knows how to drive a car, all those things. Hopefully for Minnie's sake he never goes bald."

"You told me you didn't care about my hair!"

She leaned over and kissed me on the top of my bald head. "Oh go to sleep, you old fart. You have things to do in the morning."

-ooo-

The next morning I took the Floo over to Harry and Ginny's house in Godric's Hollow after doing a Floo call beforehand to make sure everybody was up and decent. Ginny met me and ushered me into the kitchen where we prepared a cup of tea. Apparently the Weasley news network was alive and well, as she knew all about Minnie's news.

"So Hank, another wedding? Have they set a date yet?"

I shook my head. "No, not yet. Hopefully they'll give Mel some time to get things all planned out. Doubt she'll do a big to-do like Mione."

Ginny shook her head. "No, that wouldn't fit her at all. But I'm assuming that's not the reason you stopped over this morning, is it?"

"Yeeeeeah." I sat down my teacup. "It's about Virginia. Mel and I talked last night, and I think, well, Mel thinks and I agree with her, that we've given her enough space on her own. I want to see if your husband can use his, uh, contacts to see if he can find her. Unofficially, of course. Harry still sleeping?"

Gin shook her head. "Just missed him. Al stopped by about a half-hour ago with a letter in his hand, talked to Harry and disappeared. Minnie's been busy, Hank. She already owled Al with her news and asked if he could help talk to Harry about finding Virginia. Apparently she won't get married without her sisters standing up with her. They're at the Ministry right now, doing some research. Why don't you Floo Melody and have her join us for lunch? They should be back soon."

As I Flooed Mel to give her the news out of the corner of my eye I saw Ginny walking my way with a letter. Mel had agreed to come over in an hour or so, she had some things to do for Witch Weekly at the office, but Ginny's arrival shifted her attention. That's when Ginny told us that Al had left to go to the UMS, that the 'intelligence' from both the Aurors and the AAB had indicated that it would be the most plausible place for her to escape everything. After Mel cut the Floo connection I stood up and looked over to Ginny.

"So let me get this straight. The Aurors and the AAB have an idea where Gin is and nobody's said a fucking word to me or Mel? We're her parents, for God's sake. And what about Ron? With Hugo in the state he's in he didn't do a thing?"

Ginny exhaled deeply and fixed me with a look. "Ron wanted to, but Hermione's still in one of her, well, you know how she gets. Apparently they've had some spectacular rows about it. Hermione told me that if Virginia doesn't care about her son's feelings then she's not going to spend 'one iota' of a moment worrying about her. She's too worried about Hugo. I still think she has Ron in her corner, though."

"Shit." I rubbed my goatee. "How did things get so fucked up, Ginny?"

She shrugged. "Hopefully Minnie's wedding will help the two of them mend fences."

"Yeah."

-ooo-

As summer began to wane things drastically changed for everybody. Al had found Gin in Richmond, Virginia, of all places, and it was very hard when she came back. She wouldn't tell any of us why she'd really run off, even using an assumed name, and had returned with a friend. Hermione was still very defensive and unyielding when it came to Gin and Hugo, but one on front she was just like the old Hermione, the front of Minnie's wedding. The only time that Mel and Hermione were remotely civil to each other was when they were talking about planning Minnie's wedding, so at least it wasn't too horrible. Better than nothing, anyway.

Hogwarts was about ready to start the new term, so I was in my office at home when Mel came in with a letter one morning.

"Hank, you don't have anything planned on Saturday, do you?"

I sat down my glasses next to the laptop. "Um, Saturday…wait, I'm supposed to go help Neville with his new greenhouse."

"Sorry, Hank, but Neville will have to do without you. We're going to Liverpool."

I sat there for a moment and then realized exactly what she meant. "Oh. Meeting Alan's parents, then?"

"Yes, we're all going over to their place for supper. Apparently, from what she said in the letter, Alan wanted us all to go out to eat but his mum wouldn't hear of it." She looked me straight in the eye and pointed a finger at me. "No flip-flops and no footieball shirts."

I knew better than to correct her, so I simply nodded in agreement.

A few hours later we stood in the small entryway of the Finnegan's house and Alan ushered us in. I shifted the bottle of wine in my hand and took a look around the room as Alan left us to go find Minnie. It was a nice place, completely ordinary, nothing that set off the crazy bells like an entire shelf full of porcelain dog figurines peeing on trees or anything. A decent size TV sat in the living room, which to be honest looked very comfortable. Not new, not shabby, but lived-in and cozy.

I didn't have time to make a comment to Mel as Minnie and Alan arrived, followed directly by two people who could only be his parents. The woman was a little bit taller than Mel and a bit pudgier, but the man was as tall as my brother, almost as tall as HR. Roger Finnegan met me with a handshake and a look in his eye that somehow let me know that he was as nervously happy as I was, and Gemma, Roger's wife, was very pleasant. It took me all of about ten minutes to realize that I'd lucked out in the in-laws department yet again, as all of the future family events with the Finnegans would be fun. Didn't hurt that Alan mentioned Everton almost immediately after we'd said our first hellos.

After a very enjoyable dinner I looked over to Minnie and saw her give me a small wink. The topic at hand during dessert, though, that was the one that caused some difficulties.

Roger waved a fork in my direction. "Hank, I'm sure you've heard about the problems with have with my parents." He glanced over at Alan and then raised an eyebrow. "No? Damn." After a deep breath he gave a resigned shrug. "Mum and Dad don't know that Alan's a wizard. They're pretty old-fashioned, set in their ways, you know, and they don't go in for what Mum calls a lot of foolishness. I didn't have many of the things everyone else grows up with, no telly, just a radio, things like that. Even though they didn't go to university they've always been on the kids about education, a proper education."

The words 'proper education' echoed in my head, and I could only imagine what the elder Finnegans would think of a curriculum like Hogwarts or Pryderi. "Right. So the question is how are we going to manage things? They'll get along with my parents, and, um, the rest of my family, well probably not Nate…"

Melody leaned over to Roger. "He's married to a witch."

I nodded. "Yeah, and she's a handful, but that's not the point. The question is how to do a wedding that doesn't come off like a crazy magical wedding."

"Dad?" Minnie took Alan's hand and hesitantly looked at me and then her mum. "We've talked, and…you know I don't want anything like HR or Mione. Could you see us doing that?"

I hadn't known Alan that long but I knew exactly what Minnie was talking about. I could see her in a giant production like Mione about as much as I could imagine Hagrid in toe shoes dancing the lead in Swan Lake. "No, honey, I can't." I turned to Mel. "Sounds like we're getting off easy this time."

"Well, I don't know about easy. My grandparents can be rather, uh…"

"Pains in the arse." Gemma smiled at her son and then turned to us. "I'm so sorry about the language." That was the signal for Melody to roll her eyes and for Minnie to break out into a fit of the giggles. Gemma looked over to me, confused. "What did I say?"

I looked over to my watch. "Well, based on the time, I'd say the profanity chew should wear off in about ten minutes or so. It's something a friend of mine developed to keep me from cursing, which I'm unfortunately well known for…Gemma, saying 'arse' is the least of your worries, trust me."

As Minnie's giggles subsided Alan took a sip of tea and then sat down his cup. "Mum, we want to have a Muggle ceremony. I want my family…" he stopped and nodded at Minnie "we want my family to be there, as well as Minnie's, and the Muggle ceremony would be the best."

Melody put her hand on my arm and leaned forward. "That is easier, but where do you want to get married?"

That was when all the plans truly came out. It appeared that not only had Alan and Minnie planned on the dinner as an occasion for meeting Alan's parents but the time to lay out all of their plans; they wanted to be married in one of the little churches in Stintborough, the wedding would be very small, just family and a very select group of friends, and it would not be a fancy-dress type of wedding. As I sat there and listened to the plans an image came into my head, an old photograph in one of my mom's photo albums, the picture of my Grandpa and Granny MacDonald's wedding. In the old black and white photo Grandpa stood in a suit while Gran wore a very tasteful dress, something that would have been appropriate for church, and the only difference between that day and normal Sunday attire was the small bouquet of flowers that she held in her hand. It would be perfect for Minnie and Alan, and it wasn't the first time that I wished I had known about magical portraits before my Gran passed away. 

* * *

><p>To say that the run-up to Minnie's wedding was eventful was an understatement. A giant fucking understatement. I felt almost sorry for her as most of my attention, when not at Hogwarts, was with my daughter Virginia's soap opera worthy life. She's returned from her self-imposed exile, managed to become re-engaged to Hugo Weasley, mended her fences with Hermione Weasley and had to testify in wizarding court in the UMS. Mel and I were horrified at what had happened to her, but I called in a favor from Terry and Miranda Boot that helped seal that little fucker Chase whatever the fuck his name is to a really long prison sentence. It wasn't very charitable or forgiving of me, but I hoped his cellmate, if they had those in American wizarding prison, I really hoped his cellmate was a giant hulk of a man who thought that Chase looked cute. Very, very cute.<p>

The fact that Minnie had sprung on us the date of her wedding was a little crazy, as Melody went into random whingeing letters to me at Hogwarts seemly every day about the fact that they were getting married on Christmas Eve. It would be hard to book the church, getting accommodations for Alan's family traveling from Liverpool would cost a pretty penny, the meetings with the ladies of the church regarding the reception fell on her shoulders as Minnie couldn't leave Pryderi, she had to go buy a new Muggle dress and she didn't even want to think about her dress size, they would have to come up with a new name for Scorpius because absolutely nobody in the Muggle world named their child Scorpius and only the Malfoys would even consider that in the wizarding world…that was just the tip of the iceberg. Eventually I showed up to the headmaster's office to vent to Neville.

He was at his desk when I walked in, reading some new documentation that had been sent over from the Ministry, but when he saw it was me he simply took out his wand and opened the window.

I flopped down in the chair in front of his desk and lit my pipe. "Is it that obvious?"

He smiled. "Got an owl from Hannah this morning. Apparently you aren't the only recipient of Melody's venting."

"Shit. I'm sorry. Please apologize for me…"

Neville waved me off. "How long have we known each other, Hank? Besides, if Hannah could survive the time Melody was staying with her because of the WLF before you two were married…"

I laughed. "Thanks. Just so you know the next time I see your wife I'm going to kiss her."

"Not worried. She doesn't like bald men."

"Low blow, Longbottom."

"But deserved." He sat back in his chair. "So what really brings you by tonight, Hank?"

"Contingency plans. Nev, in case something happens, Merlin forbid, I want to make sure Min and Alan have someplace to get married. It is Christmas Eve, you know, only one of the holiest days of the year for the church, so I'm afraid they'll tell us 'oh so sorry, can't have it then, how would April be?' or something like that and I want to pick your brain. I want it someplace that they'd be happy with, someplace that…"

Neville held up his hand. "Hank, isn't this something that the mum of the bride usually handles? Why the sudden panic?"

"His grandparents. They have no idea how much trouble it's been for us to make arrangements with the church, but apparently they're squawking because Alan's not getting married in a Catholic church. I'm just glad the rest of his family is decent, well, they're more than decent, Roger and I have plans to go to see Everton at Goodison Park sometime, but the fact that two old Muggles are causing so many problems is making me nuts. And if it's making me nuts you understand about Mel."

Neville levitated a bottle of Old Ogden's over to his desk along with two glasses. As he poured the firewhiskey he seemed lost in thought. Finally, though, he looked over to me. "Hank, I might have a solution. It'd be a backup, of course, and you'll have to give me time to sort it. What about a floral greenhouse? You know I'm involved with the Muggle horticultural societies, and I believe I would be able to convince them."

"Neville, you are without a doubt one of the best friends a guy could ask for. I really appreciate the offer, but that'd take a ton of work, not to mention all the other shit that would go along with it. You don't have to do that, really." I took a drink of firewhiskey and felt it warm my toes. "Let's keep that as a last resort, and for Helga's sake don't mention a word to Mel. Let's keep that between us."

"Agreed. The offer stands, though, just say the word." Neville took a sip of firewhiskey and looked at the glass for a moment. "Now about the reception, Hannah said that there are dual plans for afterwards, is that correct?"

I nodded. "Oh yeah. We'll do the official bit at the church after the ceremony. Minnie and Mel met with the ladies of the church and have a very tasteful reception planned, but Mione? Yeah, Mione's determined to have a real blow-out at Forthingsgate after that. We've limited the guests at the ceremony to only a few, you know that, but at Mione and Scorpius' place? That's going to be when everybody really shows up, and Mel's been on me about 'behaving properly' at this reception. The last two receptions for the kids have made her think that I'm going to do something stupid."

"Well, third time is the charm, after all." Neville laughed. "Maybe you should save it for the last one, for Gin and Hugo's wedding."

"That sounds like a plan." I smiled. I was going to do exactly what my wife wanted, to be the proper professor at the wedding and not engage in the kind of shenanigans that happened after HR married Lily and Mione married Scorpius. That was my plan. I should have known better.


	6. Minnie and Alan: Definitely a Match

**Minnie and Alan: Definitely a Match**

"Stand still, Artie, or no more cookies."

I finally gave up trying to get my four-year old squirming grandson to behave and just picked him up and put him on my lap to tie his shoes. Christmas Eve was hard enough when you're young, but for Artie it was much more than that; he had to dress up in nice Muggle clothes and go to a wedding with his mum and dad and be good the entire time because Father Christmas was coming soon. Very, very soon. He clutched one of the robots I'd given him for his birthday, a Muggle present that I picked up in London at a toy shop. Having a grandson gave me the perfect excuse to indulge my inner nine-year old self, as it was perfectly acceptable for a man of my age to spend inordinate amounts of time looking at toy cars, robots, things like that. Whenever the shop assistants stopped by I always said I was looking for something my grandson would enjoy. They never realize that while I did buy Artie things I also picked up stuff for myself. One can never have enough superhero action figures.

"Dad, I'll take him, you still need to finish getting dressed. Where's your jacket?" HR stooped down and picked up his son. "Remember, Artie, you have to be good the entire time or what will happen?"

Artie looked at his father with a serious face. "Mum said he'll skip our house or bring me rocks."

"Coal." I chuckled. "It's like a rock, but different. The stuff I set on fire when we grill out."

Artie looked over at me, confused. "But you always set your pipe on fire, Grandpa."

As my son laughed I put a finger to my lips for a second. "Artie, remember what we talked about, that's something we don't tell your Grandmum unless absolutely necessary, right? Crap, uh, how about this, if you're good I'll let you open one of your little presents from me, ok?"

His eyes grew wide. "Thanks, Grandpa!"

After HR sat him down Artie ran off to excitedly look at the presents under the tree. With a shake of his head HR rolled his eyes at me. "Nicely done, Dad. You spoil him rotten, you know."

I picked up my suit jacket from the back of a kitchen chair and slipped it on. "Oh no, no, no, you're not just pinning that on me. You know Harry's even worse than I am."

"Tell me about it. I'm afraid to think of what'll happen tonight after the wedding when he stays over at their place in Godric's Hollow. I wish Min would've picked a different date, Lily and I can't really stay afterwards because you know someone will want to be home to set out milk and cookies for Father Christmas."

"Just like someone else if I remember right; I thought your mom was going to have to give you a sleeping draught to conk you out on Christmas Eve. Still, you were better than Gin. Remember the year she found all her presents, unwrapped everything and then wrapped it all back up?"

"Yeah." HR nodded. "Good thing the Father Christmas presents were someplace else or that would have been a really crappy Christmas." He took a look at his watch. "Not too much longer, Dad. Is she over at Mione's?"

I shook my head. "No, over at Ron and Hermione's. She's getting ready over there and then they'll Floo back here and drive down to the church. By the way, remind me to tell your uncle that he's a complete shithead when I see him. I mean, come on, HR, you know the Morris and the van wouldn't work to take her down to the church, but I should have known better than to ask Nate to get me something appropriate. It's been hard enough to act like a complete Muggle around everyone, but that's just going to cause even more questions."

"No, Dad, it's fine. We'll just tell them you hired it for the day. Lots of people do it."

"Really? They rent Rolls-Royces for weddings? I thought that was just stuff out of the movies, royal weddings and shit like that."

"Uh, Dad? Didn't Mum make you take one of those language chews this morning?"

I shook my finger at him. "Yes, but I have a secret weapon, a little counter to that stupid product, direct from the International Headquarters of Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes experimental laboratories." I pulled out one of the small, plainly wrapped sweets. "It helps to have connections."

"Poesy, right?" HR sighed. "Mum's going to kill you, then Poesy."

"Half-right. She might do me in but it won't happen with Poesy. George would never let that happen, can't lose the head of Research and Development."

Two pops of Apparition sounded out in the garden, and it was the sign that things were progressing according to schedule. Shortly thereafter Hugo Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy briefly knocked on the back door and walked into the kitchen wearing their conservative Muggle finest, marred only by the untied bowtie that hung around Hugo's neck. The poor piece of fabric looked as if it had been mangled.

Scorpius walked over and put his hand on my shoulder. "Hank, sort him out, please. He's done nothing but complain for the last half-hour about that bloody tie."

Hugo stared daggers into Scorpius' eyes. "Shut it, _Sean_."

"Sean?" I chuckled. "Is that the name you're using today, Scorpius?"

"Yeah." He walked over and picked up one of Artie's robots that had fallen behind a lamp. "Mione said that my name would be hard to explain to Alan's parents. Grandparents. The whole lot of them. Whatever."

I looked over to an irritated Hugo Weasley. "Hugo, want me to fix that for you? Really, though, I thought the instructions I sent over were pretty good, they had pictures and everything…"

HR took pity on Hugo. He went into my bedroom, came back with one of my conservative striped regular ties and handed it to Hugo. Once Hugo had it around his neck he couldn't get it to tie right, as it came out wrong on three tries. Finally HR took pity and waved his wand at the tie with an intricate pattern, causing the tie to not only become tied but in an absolute perfect knot with the perfect length.

"Showoff." I looked at my watch. "Ok, it won't be long soon. You guys know what to do when everyone gets here, the ones that are going in the cars will be…"

All three of them answered in unison. "Yes, Professor."

I walked off to go check on the Rolls. "I wish I could still take house points away, you little brats. Be good, or…"

"Or what?" Hugo looked at me in the same manner that usually preceded one of his detentions from Muggle Studies. "You'll tell on us to your daughters?"

"No, worse." I shook my finger at them. "I'll tell my wife." 

-ooo- 

As Melody and I climbed out of the back of one of the cars I looked over to her. "You ready for this, love?"

She straightened the dress that she had picked out to minimize her hips. "Yes. No. I mean…why did your brother pick such flash cars?"

"Because it's Nate. Just be glad it's December or we'd be in something convertible." I reached out and took her hand. "Come on, they'll be here soon."

After that it became a massive blur. People arrived in cars or after a short, brisk walk from the Stintborough pub. Melody had talked Hamish, the pub proprietor, into providing the after-ceremony meal, something he took great pride in arranging. The fact that he gouged her a bit on the room rates was made up in the costs for the food, so it would all come out in the wash, but I didn't care. If it was what Minnie wanted, well, then it was what Minnie would get. I spoke for a few minutes with Roger Finnegan and his sons, as they were a bit nervous about the Forthingsgate reception, but I told them not to worry.

It was advice I could have done with myself, not to worry, as I was worried. Everything had come together quite quickly but decidedly well, as we didn't need to use Neville's backup location, everyone was dressed in their Muggle finest, all of the magical guests were doing quite well blending in, and I was very grateful for Hermione Weasley and Harry Potter's Muggle upbringing as they mixed with Alan's family before everything was scheduled to start.

And then it was time. I stood in the little vestibule in the rear of the church as Nate arrived in the big Rolls, and soon Minnie stepped out with her sisters by her side. Though she didn't have on the masses of white fabric that Lily and Mione wore, not to mention the dress that Melody wore at our wedding my daughter looked radiant. In a pale blue dress with a white shawl around her shoulders and some flowers in her hair she clutched her little bouquet and smiled at me. To be honest it was all I could do to hold it together when I saw Gin and Mione walk up next to her in their dresses with their flowers in their hand. Yes, I'd seen them all dressed up for a wedding before, but somehow the fact that Minnie was getting married and Gin would soon, and the fact that HR and Mione were already married I just felt…well, old, proud and about a million other things.

For a second I flashed back to Platform 9 and ¾ when HR set off for Hogwarts that first year, the time when he had begged us to go to school on the train just like all the other kids, and in my mind's eye I saw the twins begging to be allowed to walk around with Gin, holding her hands. Where had all the time gone?

"Dad?" Minnie came up to me and slipped her arm in mine. "Are you ready?"

I kissed her on the forehead and nodded. "Yes, Minerva. Are you?"

"Yes. Yes, I am."

I swallowed quickly. "Right, then. Guess we'd better get this started."

The music began to play and I watched as Gin led off, then Mione, and then finally it was our turn. As we faced the small congregation that stood to watch I felt something entirely different than when I walked down the aisle with Mione or when I watched HR marry Lily. Those events were spectacles; beautiful, but still spectacles. In that little church I felt something entirely different, something entirely more intimate. It was almost as if Minnie and Alan were letting us take a little peek into their new lives. The faces beamed at us as we walked slowly down the aisle, and I caught Gemma Finnegan's eye for a moment; she looked so happy to see Minnie, and I realized that it wasn't just us that was happy with Alan, the Finnegans loved Minnie as well. Of course I knew that, hell, Roger had even said as much, but it was written all over Gemma's face, and you can't pull of a mum look like that if it isn't real. Eventually, though, we reached the pulpit and Alan stood next to his brothers, but he only had eyes for Minnie.

The vicar looked over to me. "Who gives this woman to be married?"

"Her mother and I." I turned to Minnie, kissed her on the cheek, but before I could go she surprised me by hugging me.

By the time I reached Melody I didn't even have to think about it. I just reached in my pocket and handed her a handkerchief. I was prepared thanks to Nonky; that morning there were twelve freshly laundered handkerchiefs on my dresser when I woke up.

From there I sat next to Melody and took her hand as we watched Minnie and Alan say their vows. As with all weddings the ceremony portion seemed to just fly by, and before I could even think about it much Mr. and Mrs. Alan Finnegan were introduced.

After the procession back up the aisle ended we all ended up outside for a very quick photograph and then with the exception of Minnie and Alan we made our way downstairs to get ready for the Muggle reception. I had almost found a glass of punch when Melody pulled me back upstairs and we had another round of photographs. As I stood next to Melody I noticed that Gin had managed to pull Hugo up with her for the pictures, and I felt very, very old. 

-ooo- 

The Muggle wedding reception in the church hall felt like going back in time, back to when I lived in America and attended weddings of friends and distant relatives as there was a cake, a punchbowl and decorations about the place. Except for the accents you could have plopped down Stintborough in the middle of my home state and nobody would have really known the difference. I was feeling fairly well at ease talking to Ron Weasley when I felt a tap on my shoulder, and when I turned around two elderly people stood next to Roger, two people that I could only assume were his parents, the Muggles who didn't know about the wizarding world. That's what I thought, anyway. They were nice enough for a pair of old people who thought they seemed better than everyone, for some reason. They tolerated meeting me, that was easy enough to see, and I saw the way that the woman glanced over at HR and Lily as they tried to keep Artie from helping himself to cake.

Minnie came up to me then to ask me something and Alan's grandparents began to speak to each other in low voices, but not in English. In Welsh.

"Mae'n debyg y bydd yn gwneud. Mae ei deulu yn ymddangos braidd yn rhyfedd." The old man leaned into his wife, and she nodded.

"Cymaint ag y gall hi fod gan ei bod yn un ohonynt. Efallai ni fydd ganddynt blant."

All of the sudden Minnie straightened her back and turned to them slowly. "Rydym yn fawr iawn yn bwriadu ar gael plant, cyn gynted ag y bo modd, diolch yn fawr iawn. Ac mae fy nheulu yn wych. Os ydych chi'n lwcus Ni fyddaf yn dweud wrth eich mab un gair o'r hyn a ddywedasoch. Cofiwch fod."

Alan's grandparents went a bit pale and his Gran took her husband's arm and slowly began to move to the other side of the room, next to their other grandchildren. I was shocked, to say the least. "Min! What just happened?"

Her face was impassive, but I could see the fire in her eyes. "Oh, it was nothing." She paused and then nodded her head for me to lean down. "She said 'I suppose she will do. Her family seems a bit strange.' and then he said 'As much as she can be since she is one of them. Maybe they won't have children.' I'm sorry to say that rather, well, I can't say it now because we're on church grounds, but I never thought those stupid Welsh lessons would pay off. I let them have a piece of my mind."

"Minerva Lane Boyd!"

"Finnegan." She smiled at me.

"Oh, right, going to take some time to get used to that. What'd you say?"

"Oh. Yes. Um, well, I might have told them that we very much intend on having children, as soon as possible, thank you very much. And my family is wonderful. And if they're lucky I won't tell Roger one word of what they said. And that they should remember that."

I kissed her on the cheek. "I know we used her middle name for Gin, but my Granny Polly would be very proud of you. You could have been in Gin's house, you know."

"Oh Dad."

From there on out it was a rather enjoyable, but very calm little reception. Cake was cut, I saw a few flasks come out of pockets, and Artie managed to get a giant piece of cake with loads of frosting on it somehow. I almost felt sorry for Harry and Ginny, since they'd be watching him for a little while to let HR and Lily enjoy themselves at the Forthingsgate reception. Lily slipped once and called Scorpius by his real name instead of Sean, but luckily nobody heard except for Anna, Alan's sister, and she already knew the real story. Most of all, though, I was proud. Proud of my children, proud of my former Muggle Studies students for fitting in so well, and proud of Melody. She was holding it all together really well, as the waterworks only turned on briefly when Alan and Minnie cut the cake.

Soon, though, things began to wind down and I noticed Alan's grandparents come over and bid the newlyweds goodbye. I watched their faces intently, and it seemed as if they realized that their grandson's new wife wasn't going to be a pushover. Once they left in Roger's car everyone who would be attending the Forthingsgate reception seemed to be a little anxious, and they remained that way, chatting somewhat nervously with the church ladies and other Muggles until Roger returned and informed everyone that his parents were safely ensconced in their room.

We thanked the ladies of the church, cleaned up as best we could, and then Alan and Minnie got in the back of the Rolls. It was a scene we'd all talked about beforehand, that we had to pretend that we were really saying goodbye to the newlyweds. Of course Nate was only driving them back to Colony House, and then the Floo would roar into life, followed almost immediately by the real party. It definitely roared into life. 

-ooo- 

Mione really outdid herself when it came to the Forthingsgate reception. She'd hired Rainbolt's Magical Event Planning to staff the event, so everybody was well taken care of. After I changed out of my suit and put on tweed pants and a v-neck jumper I went downstairs with Melody. She was happy to be out of that dress and complained the whole way down that the pictures would make her arse look huge, but I just let it wash over me. I was in too good of a mood to worry. Besides, I thought her arse still looked great.

Since it was Christmas Eve there were Christmas crackers at all the tables, courtesy of George's shop. Most of them turned out to be harmless, although one did make Hermione Weasley speak backwards for an hour. I couldn't decide who enjoyed that more, Ron or George. Eventually, though Mel and I ended up at a table with Al and Delyth Potter. Al still couldn't believe that the twins were married, and I teased him a bit about how I always thought I'd have him as a son-in-law, since the twins always said they were going to be Mrs. Potter. It was about the time that I said 'Mrs. Potter' that James Potter and Alice Longbottom sat down next to us.

Alice opened her Christmas cracker and pulled out a small tiara that soon expanded and sat on her head singing 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." In Spanish. We all laughed at that, but then James popped open his cracker. After a flash and a puff of smoke there sat a plastic ring with a Father Christmas head on it that did the usual 'ho ho ho' bit. I caught a glimpse of James' eyes and knew something was up.

I nudged Mel. "Watch James. He's going to do something."

"How do you know?"

"Many, many detentions."

James held the ring up to his ear and pretended it was talking to him. "What? Yes. Oh, I know. Yeah, that's true." A long pause occurred, causing everyone at the table to look at him except for Alice. The Father Christmas ring said 'ho ho ho' again. She just rolled her eyes. James turned back to the ring. "Think you're up to it? Ok, then."

Melody nudged me but I just shook my head and discreetly pointed to James.

Without warning James went down on a knee in front of Alice. "You know, I was thinking about this, but Father Christmas here reminded me of a few things, and some things I'd forgotten, and how he knew about that weekend in Peru is beyond me, but he said he was up for the job. So, Alice Longbottom, it'll have to be Father Christmas here until I can do it properly. Marry me?"

The girls had told me that Alice had been expecting a ring from James for a few years, so I knew that she definitely would say yes, but instead she had some fun with him.

"Really, James? You're a professional Quidditch player, and you're going with a plastic ring you pulled out of a cracker? That's what you're going with?"

James' confidence began to waver. "Well, for now. Temporarily. Have to get you a massive diamond so everyone knows I'm not as cheap as Al."

Delyth laughed but Al shook his head. "Hey, Delyth's ring is nice, and it sure wasn't cheap, you daft bastard."

James squinted at his brother. "Shut up, Albus, I'm being romantic. This is an important romantic moment right here and you're ruining it."

Minnie's voice came from over Al's shoulder. "What are you doing, James?" Minnie and Alan stood behind Al and Delyth, holding hands. "Are you proposing?"

Al leaned back. "He is, and with a ring from a Christmas cracker."

James took a deep breath. "Would you lot shut it? My knee's starting to hurt and she hasn't said 'yes' yet."

Alice barely stifled a smile. "Oh, so you think I'll say yes, do you?"

All of James' bravado fell away. "Alice, come on, don't leave me hanging. You know I don't want to be with anybody else but you."

"Not the Puddlemere Supporters, the ones with the skimpy tops who follow the team around? No? Not even that woman who followed you around for a month, what was her name?"

"Margaret Williams." Minnie smiled. "You know the one, James. The one Mione calls a 'cheap bird with expensive tits.' Surely you didn't forget her?"

James waved her off. "I took out the restraining order, made sure she has to stay away." He turned back to Alice. "Alice…sweetie…"

Alice sat back and crossed her legs. "Hmmm…I'll have to think about this. For a long time, maybe. Perhaps you need to wait for a while to think…"

That was it; he couldn't take it any longer. James stood up, went over to Alice and took her face in his hands. "Alice Augusta Longbottom, I love you. You. Just you."

Alice smiled and looked as if she was weighing a decision of whether to buy the blue top or the green one. "Well, then, if you say so, I guess I'll say yes."

Melody leaned over and whispered in my ear. "Definitely a match for James."

I laughed and whispered back as James and Alice kissed. "Definitely."

Shortly thereafter James stopped the band, led Alice up onstage and announced that they were engaged. Alice proudly showed off her plastic Father Christmas ring. 

-ooo- 

As the kids and the younger party attendees danced I sat at a table with Alan's parents and the George Weasleys. George was in the middle of explaining how he'd hacked together the Premier League feed with WeasleyVision when HR and Lily joined us.

"Mum's going to kill him." Lily shook her head. "And somehow I think it's going to be my fault."

"Your fault?" Melody shook her head. "No, they offered to take Artie for the night."

A platter of blue drinks appeared on a tray only slightly higher than the table, causing Roger Finnegan to stare. "Uh, Hank, is that magic?"

I looked down and saw Mione's house elf. "Kind of, it's my daughter's house elf. Leeky, who sent those over?"

The elderly house elf levitated the tray to the table. "Mr. Bill Weasley, sir. Said it was tradition, sir." Leeky wiggled a finger for me to lean closer. "Mr. Weasley said to watch Mistress Gwennie's shoes, he did."

Mel took one of Bill's Specials off of the table, downed about half of it one go and then stood up. "I think I'll just go have a word with Bill."

After she walked off Gemma Finnegan gave me an odd look. "What's wrong with her shoes? They look lovely to me."

George began laughing but Angelina elbowed him. "Melody has a history of, well, how do I put it?"

I leaned over the table. "When we were dating, and after that a few times, when she's had too many somehow or other her shoes get stuck in the ceiling."

Roger laughed. "The ceiling? That's a good one. Gem here likes to…"

Gemma put her hand over her husband's mouth. "Not one word, you promised."

I felt a tap on my arm Lily handed me a small bag which made a clinking noise. "There should be enough in there to cover everybody. I used Aunt Hermione's extension charm. If you run out, though, let me know."

After opening the bag I saw the distinctive orange-ish color of hangover potions. "Thanks, Lily. Yours are the best."

"You would know, Dad." HR stood up and put out his hand for his wife. "We'd better go collect Artie. Don't know how we're going to get him to sleep tonight as it is, and I'm sure Ginny and Harry will want to talk to James. We'll be over tomorrow morning for Christmas."

Lily stood up and held HR's hand. "But not too early." She looked up to her husband. "Come on, let's go find your sister and her new husband and say our goodbyes." 

-ooo- 

When I woke up something large, heavy and smelly was on my chest. Since I didn't have my glasses on I couldn't make it out right away, but after feeling it I realized it was a foot. I moved it off and heard a grunt, a masculine grunt. That surprised me so I sat up and saw Bill Weasley's body half lying on the sofa, half lying on the floor and that's when I realized I was on the floor. After looking around for a bit I finally concluded that I was in my house, in my office, and it was more than just me and Bill in there. My brother Nate was sleeping on top of my desk. Alan's brother Mark was in one of my leather chairs and had pulled the other one over to put up his feet.

As I stood up my head began to throb horribly which made me a bit woozy so I reached out my hand to steady myself.

"Hank, do you mind?" Minerva McGonagall's voice echoed loudly in my ear, and from her tone she didn't seem pleased.

I removed my hand from her portrait. "Sorry, Minerva. Um, what happened?"

"Hmmph." She pursed her lips and gave me a stern look. "As old as you are you should have known better. You are a grandfather, after all."

"Minerva, please? And not so loud."

I stood there and listened as Minerva recounted the events. After Minnie and Alan left for their overnight stay, they were having their full honeymoon after Christmas, after they'd left everybody started drinking more and more of Bill's Specials and George's special eggnog recipe. That's what we told Minerva when we came back to Colony House. The men ended up in my office while Melody and the women went upstairs, and I'd pulled out my scotch and cigars. You would have thought that we would have stayed at Forthingsgate, since the place is massive, but for some reason we headed back to Colony House.

"I believe you said something about showing the Finnegans your WeasleyVision set, you said something about football." She looked over to the far wall and made 'tsk tsk' kind of noises. "Hank, do you realize the time?"

I looked over and squinted. "Holy shit!"

"Precisely, although I would not have used those words." Minerva gave me a stern look. "I know it is Christmas…"

"Happy Christmas, Minerva."

She nodded. "Yes, yes, Happy Christmas to you, too, Hank. You need to pull things together. Aren't you having everyone over this morning? And please remind William that his grandchildren will be expecting their grandfather to not be hungover."

"Right, right." I went over and kicked Bill's foot. "Up and at 'em, Bill, you snoring bast…come Bill, get up, it's Christmas."

Eventually everyone woke up, I distributed some of Lily's hangover potions and we went upstairs. Those who could Flooed away and I made Mark Finnegan a strong cup of coffee. At least he didn't have to go far, just down to the pub in the village, and it didn't matter too much as the Finnegans were having Christmas at Colony House that year. After Minnie and Alan dropped the date of their wedding on everybody we all decided it would be easier to have a combined Christmas.

I found Lavender sleeping soundly in Minnie's old bed, but I couldn't find my wife. After I went into our bedroom I heard our shower going, so I figured that's where she was. I went in, peed, and talked to her. "Mel, I can't believe it. I know you're probably pissed, you told me not to do it again, you know, have too much at the reception, but you were the one who started chugging Bill's Specials. I'll be good at Gin's wedding, ok?"

My brain still wasn't working so I reached out and flushed the toilet. Wizarding plumbing is a combination of Muggle hardware but with a little magic involved, but there's one thing that is a constant; flushing the toilet when someone is in the shower is never, ever a good thing. I heard the scream, but it was more than that; there were two screams, one a female scream and the other one distinctively male.

"Mel? What the hell's going on?" I opened the shower curtain and immediately closed my eyes; instead of Mel in there with some guy I saw my daughter Gin's head poke around Hugo Weasley's shoulder. "Oh fuck. Sorry." I closed the shower curtain quickly. "Virginia Pauline, you'd better get out of there ASAP. I won't tell your mom. Hugo…" I tried to say something but nothing came out, so I simply walked out of the room. 

-ooo- 

Thankfully by the time that Artie showed up with HR and Lily everybody was fully clothed, hangover potions had been liberally dispensed, coffee and tea had been administered and we'd managed to get a bit of breakfast down. It had been a subdued table with low volume conversation until the potions finally kicked in. When Roger and Gemma Finnegan arrived Roger took one look at Mark, went over and pushed open his lips, said 'got all your teeth, better than last time' and sat down next to his son.

Artie tore into his presents and was as happy as a clam. The robots that turned into cars were a great hit, and the wind-up raygun that made incredible amounts of noise from Nate was an even bigger hit. As Artie ran through the house, pulling the trigger and making a tremendous amount of noise Lily gave Nate the stink eye. He should have known better, but since it was Nate I figured he planned on it being annoying as hell.

I turned to him. "No off button?"

"Of course not."

He was saved further Wrath of Weasley from Lily when Minnie and Alan arrived. Everyone crowded around, wishing them well, and eventually they sat down next to each other. Everyone looked at them expectantly.

Minnie nudged him. "Go on, it's all your doing."

He chuckled. "Well, you know I wanted to keep things a secret. We went to a little hotel in Spain for the night. Beautiful place, really. Found it while doing some research, there's a Transfiguration professor in Madrid that's doing some amazing things in…"

Minnie nudged him. "Alan?"

"Oh, right." He smiled at her. "Well, we're going back there after Boxing Day. It's on the coast, beautiful views, amazing restaurants…"

"It's so lovely." Minnie sighed. "Makes me almost wish we could move there."

Alan looked over to his brother. "Mark, what happened to you? Last I saw you were drinking that blue stuff straight from a pitcher."

Mark just shook his head.

"Oh, do I need to work on my potions?" Lily smirked at me. "Or did you run out?"

Melody gave me one of 'those' looks so I changed tactics. "Lily, what did you mom and dad say about James?"

Lily chuckled. "Well, Mum read him the riot act for proposing with a plastic cracker ring, but she's happy for them. Dad just shook his head when we told them the story. I did hear him say 'finally' under his breath, though."

The rest of Christmas at Colony House went wonderfully. Presents were distributed to everyone and the Finnegans were welcome additions, as it became rather obvious that they could handle the magical world a whole lot better than the elder Finnegans. A staggering amount of food was devoured, Artie finally conked out and took a nap in HR's old room, all of the Potters showed up as well as Neville and Hannah Longbottom, and eventually the afternoon took on a nice, lazy atmosphere as night began to fall.

I was almost asleep in my chair when I felt arms around my neck from behind. "Dad?"

"Yes?"

Gin cleared her throat. "You aren't going to say anything to Mum, are you?"

I didn't say anything for a while. Eventually, though, I couldn't take it. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Thank Merlin."

"No, seriously, I don't know what you're talking about. I had Lavender Obliviate me. What's your name again?"

"Funny, Dad. But thank you."

"Sure. Just tell Hugo which kind of pipe tobacco and scotch I like. Just in case he asks." 

-ooo- 

It was late, very late, as Melody and I sat in the living room on the sofa, Minerva McGonagall's portrait leaning against the edge of the cushions. Poesy Phillips-Jones had owled over the WeasleyVision recording of the wedding and the reception, a present from George. The invisible floating cameras had done their trick yet again.

As the recording began to play I heard Minerva, but I couldn't make out what she was saying, so I turned down the volume. "Sorry, didn't catch that."

I could hear the emotion in her voice. "She looks lovely, so lovely. And he's such a nice boy; we had a talk about Transfiguration earlier, Minnie brought him in for a chat. Those two are a very good match. Yes, definitely a good match. You two should be very proud."

"We are." Mel put her hand in mine. "We're proud of all of our children."

I took Mel's hand and motioned towards the other end of the sofa. Once she'd moved over I picked up Minerva's portrait and sat it between us. "They've done really well, haven't they?"

"Oh yes, Hank, very well." Minerva nodded. "All those worries years ago were for nought, weren't they?"

I thought back to when Melody was pregnant with HR, all the worries that I'd had, specifically the worries that whenever he was born that he wouldn't have any magic, that he would have been a Muggle. I had many conversations with Minerva about that, and the same topic came up when Gin and the twins were born. When they all had their bouts of accidental magic I spoke to Minerva about that as well; she knew my fears, almost as much as Melody did.

"You're right, Minerva. But then again, you know me; worst possible scenario is what I dwell on."

"Merlin." Melody rolled her eyes. "Give it a rest, Hank. Think about what just happened. Minnie married a wonderful wizard, his Muggle parents and his family are wonderful, well, not his grandparents, but…" She waved her hand. "And as ancient as you are you survived another wedding reception."

I smiled at her and we watched the rest of the WeasleyVision film. After it ended I picked up Minerva's portrait and headed back into my office, hanging the frame in its usual place of prominence. It was after that I straightened the portrait that I began looking at all the photographs. Melody pregnant with HR, the arrival of the kids, the girls in little swimsuits in a plastic pool in the back of the garden, HR and Al Potter by my car, Virginia in all black and full of sulky teenager attitude…where had the time gone? It just seemed like yesterday that I arrived at Hogwarts not knowing a soul, and then somehow ended up with a kilt escorting Ginny Potter to a Harpies function.

"If it wasn't for you, Minerva, I don't know if any of this would have been possible."

"I'm sorry, Hank. I don't follow you."

I looked at her in the portrait, sitting there petting her tabby cat, all in black. I took a step closer. "I got together with Mel the night that you gave me Balthasar, and who knew that a grumpy sporran with a taste for scotch would be the reason. If you hadn't given me that sporran I would have backed out on being Ginny's date that night, I couldn't have gone without a sporran. And think about it, if I hadn't gone on that 'date' there would be no HR, no Virginia, and no Minnie and Mione."

She shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "Perhaps."

I leaned over and kissed her portrait, placing my kiss on her cheek. "You know I'm right. And now there's just one more wedding left. What am I going to do after that?"

Melody's hands closed around my waist. "You'll do what you always do, Hank. Curse, smoke those horrible pipes, drink too much on occasion, and be there for your family and friends. You'll have the Muggle Club parties, the Swearing parties, and teach magical children that Muggles aren't coming to steal babies and eat cats."

I turned around and kissed Mel. "What would I do without you?"

"Thankfully we don't have to worry about that. I'm stuck with you."

I pushed her graying hair behind her ear. "Thank God for that. Just one more left, Mel. How did we get so old?"

She laughed. "I don't know. Seems like only yesterday it would be us sneaking out of the shower in towels instead of Gin and Hugo."

"What?" I gave her an odd look. "How did you know that?"

"After all these years, Hank? I'm not only a mum, I'm a witch." She smiled. "And as for what do we do now? That's easy. We spoil our grandchildren rotten."


	7. Gin & Hugo: There Are No Plans

**Gin and Hugo: There Are No Plans**

_8 July, 2032_

I sat in a hard chair at the Richmond Airport and flipped through screens on my mobile phone, what I considered waiting patiently but Melody wasn't doing very well. She fidgeted, played with her charm bracelet, flipped through magazines and walked around impatiently.

"Hank. Hank!" She shook her head at me. "What's so bloody important?

I gave her a funny look. "What are you talking about? I'm just catching up on Everton news. This new phone that…"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, I know you love your present from Minnie and Alan, but you didn't hear a word I said."

"Umm…" I knew that look in her eyes so I put my phone away. "Sorry. What'd I miss?"

"I was asking you if you knew why the plane is late." She walked over and sat down next to me. "Why the kids wanted to arrive _that_ way is beyond me. Much easier the _normal_ way."

"Who knows, Mel? It's probably just the usual stuff. I checked the weather earlier, its fine, so just sit down and wait. If it's anything big they'll put it on one of the TV panels around here."

It had been Lily's idea that she and HR, along with most of their siblings, their spouses and kids, would arrive in Richmond via Muggle air transport. They had thought it would be an adventure of sorts, since most of them had never flown in an airplane before. Lily had even talked Al and Delyth into joining them, but James and Alice Potter, still on their extended honeymoon, had chosen a portkey. Made sense for them, as coming from New Zealand on a plane would be a gigantic exercise in patience and connecting flights that James simply wasn't built to deal with. Gin and Hugo had been in Richmond for a while, though, working on their non-existent wedding plans; in other words they were hiding out, a very smart idea. I thought Gin might want to meet everyone at the airport but when I said that to Hugo in a Floo call he shook his head and said something about how Gin 'couldn't be arsed' as she was busy with other things. Again, my guess is that she was putting it off as long as possible; the craziness, not the wedding.

Mel and I had arrived in Richmond a couple of days before that, checking into The Magnolia, the finest wizarding hotel in Virginia. Well, not only Virginia but apparently the entire east coast. Normally I would have balked at paying all those Galleons, but Mione and Scorpius had made the arrangements. Apparently Mione had some sort of connection with the hotel due to her time with the Wimbourne Wasps, not to mention Scorpius' frequent stays there as part of the Ministry's Department of International Magical Cooperation, so I reluctantly accepted. I shouldn't have bitched, because it was one of the nicest places I'd ever stayed, if not the nicest. Who knew that all those years I lived in Virginia as a Muggle that a place like that existed right under my nose? Everyone was staying at The Magnolia, actually. We'd rented out the whole top floor of the place, which sounded like we had entirely too much room but actually made sense, with all the Weasley family attending the wedding not to mention my family. Yes, the price was exorbitant, but Mione, James and Albus had used their connections and Galleons to take care of their families. Sometimes it helps to have Quidditch players and WeasleyVision film stars in the family. Or in Al's case, as a godson as well as family. Regardless, the kids were the last ones to arrive and Mel and I had been sent to fetch them from the airport.

"Hank?"

"Yes, love?"

She scowled at me over the top of her glasses. "Don't 'yes, love' me. How are we getting them all back to the hotel? HR and Lily will have Artie, Mione and Scor…Sean, Mione and Sean have Karen and Al and Delyth have Maeve. If we're using…"

I waved her off. "It's going to be fine. Gin set it all up earlier with Nate. Don't worry, Granny, there will be enough baby seats for the little ones. Can't imagine how uptight you'd have been if we would have lived here when the kids were little."

"Nice, very nice, Hank. I can just see me in that horrible old van of yours with the entire thing filled with infant seats. You're just lucky…"

And then I was lucky, as I heard Artie's voice. My five year-old grandson came running over to us and almost threw himself into my arms.

"Grandpa! I got to sit by the window and see the wing an' everything was so little like my toys and then it got bigger and bigger an…"

I ruffled his hair. "Thought you'd like that. Were you good for Mom and Dad?"

"Surprisingly, yes, yes he was." My son HR stood next to our seats, resting his hand on a small carry-on bag. "And he watched his words very, very well, so I owe him a treat."

Artie nodded vigorously. "I want Bertie…"

I put my index finger to his lips. "I'm sure we can get you some of those, but remember what we talked about, ok, Bud?" HR, Lily and Artie had dinner at Colony House the week before, and HR and I had tried to school Artie into not saying anything that Muggles might freak out about. "Ask your Aunt Gin, she knows this place better than I do, which is weird for me, but enough about that. Are you ready to go swimming?"

"After he has a bite to eat and a nap." Melody pulled him off of my lap and Artie threw his arms around his Gran's neck. "So someone liked the plane, did he?"

"Uh-huh." Artie beamed. "I wanna go home that way but Dad says his legs are too long an' the seats are for Mum."

I laughed. "He's right, Artie. Maybe you can ask your Auntie Min if she'll take you."

HR rolled his eyes. "Thanks, Dad. Now I get to listen to that for the rest of the trip."

As the rest of the travelers arrived, all bags accounted for, we headed out to the pickup area. I pulled out my phone and dialed Nate's number. "Hey dork, they're all here. So what's your brilliant plan? Gin never said."

My brother's annoying smirk came through in his words. "Oh just wait and see, you big Muggle."

"Nate!" I shook my head. "These things can be tapped?"

"Right, like my AAB agent wife would let that happen. Don't worry, y'all are fine. Just be on the lookout. You'll know it when you see it. There in five minutes."

He ended the call; I sighed and then looked over to Mel. "Get ready. It's another Nate thing." Two minutes later a large, black limousine pulled up and stopped. The driver's side door opened to reveal my brother. "Shit, Nate, really?"

He remotely popped the trunk and walked over. "How else am I supposed to get everyone back to the hotel? Shut up and get in, you old fart."

"One year, asshole, I'm only one year older than you."

Melody smacked my arm. "Henry! Little ears!"

I looked over to Artie, who held on to Lily's hand. "Grandpa said another bad word!"

_Oh boy._

-ooo-

Once we'd settled in, and Lily found Artie's swim trunks, I watched Lily and HR walk down the hallway to the elevator to take my insistent grandson down to the swimming pool. That meant that everyone was heading down there, so after changing into a pair of trunks that Mel called 'horribly garish' but I liked, we joined them. It was funny, seeing everyone from my British wizarding world relaxing by or in the pool in Richmond, Virginia. Ron Weasley was in the pool with his three year-old grandson Walter while two-year old Nigel stayed in the shallow end with his dad Simon Wood. Rosie sat next to her mum, and both were underneath umbrellas with large straw hats; Hermione wore a coverup over her one piece suit and was unsurprisingly reading a book while Rosie's poor suit was stretched due to her third pregnancy. She didn't seem like she was enjoying herself much. Ginny and Harry sat with their first granddaughter, as Al and Delyth watched them coo and fuss over Maeve.

It was funny watching everyone interact; even though I'd been to many Weasley events and Potter events they all seemed to be letting their hair down.

"Nice trunks, Dad."

I looked over my shoulder to see Gin and Hugo. "Thanks, I like them but guess who doesn't?"

Hugo shook his head. "I'm not saying a word."

"Good move." Melody smiled at them and motioned for them to bring chairs over. Once that had been completed she looked at the two of them. "So, is everything ready? Gin, you didn't say exactly what I had to do, just not to dress up and to wear comfortable shoes for walking. You aren't going to make us traipse all around Richmond in this heat, are you?"

"No, Mum." Gin rolled her eyes. "How many times do I have to tell you? We're just going to go to Maymont, that big park that I told you about, and we'll just have a picnic. The officiant that we arranged from the American Ministry will be there to do the ceremony, and after that we'll just continue on with our picnic. That's it. No big production. Lots easier than the rest of them." Gin took off her sunglasses and her bangle bracelets jingled slightly. "What? You're giving me that look. What's wrong now?"

"Virginia. That swimsuit, what there is of it, doesn't cover much." Mel glanced over to me. "Hank?"

"Merlin's socks, pants and underwear." Gin rolled her eyes again. "Mum, it's a bikini. Alice has one on, too. I like it."

"I like it." Hugo grinned at her.

She swatted him playfully on the stomach. "Shut it."

I glanced over at my wife. "Mel, you wore one on our honeymoon…"

"Mum?" Gin laughed incredulously. "You wore a bikini?"

"Thong." I avoided looking my wife. "I really liked it."

"Hank!" Mel turned back to Gin. "At least tell me you used a sunscreen spell…"

"I did it for her." Hugo shook his head. "Do you really think Mum wouldn't teach us that? When you inherit the Weasley complexion it's one of the first things you're taught. Rosie's the best at it, though."

Mel nodded at Hugo. "I'm glad to know at least _one_ of you has sense. So what are the plans?"

"Mum." Gin fixed her in the eye. "Besides the picnic wedding there ARE NO PLANS. Relax, for Salazar's sake. You're in the best hotel on the eastern seaboard, everything's taken care of, just relax."

-ooo-

The next morning after a decadent breakfast I was in the little restaurant, enjoying my coffee when Hugo and HR sat down across from me. I could tell by the look in Hugo's eyes, a look that I remembered from Muggle Studies, that something was up.

"Hank, the wedding's tomorrow so we've got the day, and HR and I were talking, and…"

I looked over to Mel. "Mummy, can I go play with Hugo and HR? I'll be good."

She sighed. "Boys, if you bring him back and he's unable to stand it will not go well for either of you." She looked at me intently. "You promised me, Hank. What was it you said? 'After the last screwups I'll be good this time?' I'm holding you to it. Remember, you are in your sixties."

"Oh thanks for reminding me." I took a sip of tea and looked over to the two grinning idiots. "What is it?"

"We want you to drive us around Richmond, Dad. Show us stuff from when you were here."

"Gin and Lily are coming, Mum. Don't worry." HR smiled at his mum. "Lily will keep us all on track."

"Good." Melody waved her hands at me. "Shoo, go play. I'm having a spa day with the ladies."

I went up to my room to change, and when I went back down into the lobby to meet the boys only Hugo sat in one of the chairs waiting. When he saw me he came over.

"Lily said that HR has to watch Artie. She's going on the spa thing with the girls, and Gin's going with her. Mione threw a fit, something about the horrible state of Gin's nails or summing."

"Mione." I shook my head. "I always knew she was the bossy one, but this takes the cake. Ok, then, Hugo, looks like it's just us. What are we driving?"

He handed me a set of keys with a big smile. "Gin's Jeep. It's a mess, but at least the air con works."

"Works for me."

After starting up the Jeep and turning the AC to 'oh please God make the heat stop' setting we pulled out of the secret Magnolia parking lot and into the usual meandering traffic of Richmond. I took Hugo by a few places, but since he'd been in Richmond with Gin for a while off and on I skipped the usual touristy things. Hugo was interested in some of my reminiscing, but for the most part he seemed slightly nervous. I knew what that meant, as I had seen it in class often enough.

"Ok, Hugo, out with it. What's on your mind?"

"Um…" He leaned his head back against the seat. "Well, I know Gin pretty well, but you know her better since you're her Dad and all…"

I turned a corner and glanced at him. "You're not getting cold feet, are you?"

"What? No!" He pulled his head off of the seat rest and looked at me. "Not at all, I mean, we have a house and everything, it's just…is she always like this with plans? Just making things up as they go? Not a lot of rules?"

I reached into my pocket and came up empty. "Damn. Oh, sorry, looking for a smoke. Uh, yeah, Hugo, she's always been that way. I think it's because Mel was always trying to make her into a proper little lady. That always cracked me up, because Mel is definitely _not_ the proper English witch. Those types always give me the shivers. Mel said that she was..."

Hugo smiled, open the glovebox and pulled out a half-empty pack of smokes and a blue plastic lighter. "Here. She quit for a while but with everyone coming over, and everything, well..."

I took the pack from him. "No, I get it, don't worry." At a stoplight I rolled down the window, fished a cigarette out of the pack and lit it. "If anyone understands, it's me."

"Thanks. If Melody knew..."

"Yeah, been there. Don't worry, Hugo." After driving around a bit more I looked over to him, still wrapped up in thought, and I remembered what he was like at Hogwarts. It reminded me of how he was in my class before a Quidditch match. I knew if I did what the kids called my 'quiet trick' he'd probably start talking, especially the way he looked at that moment. I wasn't wrong. About a half-mile down the street he sat back against his seat.

"I don't know everyone does it."

I glanced over. "How everyone does what?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, everything. I mean, Mum and Dad, you and Melody, Harry and Ginny...after all the big stuff how do you manage things like emptying the bins and paying bills and..."

"Ah." I took another drag. "This sounds like a three beer conversation."

"Just three, though." He gave me a half-hearted smile. "I promised."

"No, I promised her not to get blindingly pissed. You know what happened at the other weddings, so I'm supposed to be on my best behavior. Three beers, Hugo. That's it." I looked around the streets, trying to reorient myself. It had been so long since I'd been in Richmond for more than a day or so that everything looked different. "It's your town now, Hugo, not mine. Where do you want to go?"

Once again he reached into the glovebox, rummaged around a bit and pulled out a map. "Let's see what's open."

I glanced over at the map and saw it moving. "What kind of map is that?"

"One of George's. He sent it over to me an' Gin not long after Gin got her place. Tells you what's open, how crowded the place is, if the food's any good. Self-updating."

"Figures." I chuckled to myself as once again George had taken something from the Muggle world, those websites and apps that do restaurant reviews and such and had morphed it into a wizarding application. "Muggle or magical?"

"Magical!" The words came out a little quicker than he expected, which made Hugo a little embarrassed. "Sorry, it's just we've been in Muggle places so often lately, and with what went on here with Gin and the wizarding community, it's been easier. But I'm tired of it."

I nodded, knowing exactly what he meant. My daughter's experience with the magical community of Two Chopt was something that I did my best to forget, even if I never quite could. I knew that it wasn't the community's fault, just one entitled little fucker who thought he could get away with whatever the fuck he wanted, but calling in my favor from Terry Boot had put paid to that little piece of shit.

"Hank?"

"Sorry, Hugo, zoned out for a minute. Ok, what's open at..." I looked at my watch. "...ten in the morning that's serving alcohol?"

"Um..." He glanced at the map. "Not much. The Drowning Elf is open but that's not anywhere I would go. Really shite food, watery beer and reminds me of Knockturn Alley."

"That's a no, then." I took a last drag off of my cigarette and started to toss it out the window but Hugo grabbed my arm. He pulled open a little drawer from the dash of the car, something that I'd never noticed and nodded his head towards it. I put the cigarette butt in there and as soon as it had left my hands it vanished in a little puff of smoke.

"One of Gin's tricks. She did it after one of the Muggle police pulled her over for littering."

"That's cool. Might have to get her to do something like that for me. Ok, what are our other options?"

"Mostly all night places." He scanned the map some more. "There's Hollywood; no way in bloody hell I'm going there."

"Hollywood? The old cemetery? The one where the presidents are buried?"

He nodded. "Yeah, it's a vampire bar. Scary as hell, booze is good, though."

"Wait a sec, that legend about the vampire in Hollywood cemetery is true?"

"Yeah, it is. 's why it's so hard to get into the place. Vampires never forget anything. One guy got pissed on blood alcohol and wandered outside and the Muggles saw him, so the only way into the place now is a blood Floo."

"A blood Floo? Do I want to know?"

"No, you don't."

I looked down at the gas gauge. "Listen, we could drive around all day..."

"Whoa, this is new." Hugo folded the map over. "The Spectral Rebel. Not far away, listing says it's always open, decent food score, drinks, entertainment, two Galleon cover charge."

"Two Galleons to get in the damn door? Jesus." I looked over to Hugo and made a decision. He obviously wanted to talk about something as he had mentioned me and Mel, his parents and Harry and Ginny. The hell with the Galleons. "Sounds fine to me. How do I get there?"

"Easy."

He slid his wand out, kept it below the window line so nobody could see, tapped the map and then tapped the center of the steering wheel. Immediately the Jeep began to drive on its own, signaling and changing lanes, adjusting the speed until it fell right above the speed limit. I looked over at him and he just smiled.

"Another one of George's, I take it?"

"Nah, there's a guy in Two Chopt, Muggleborn. His dad is a mechanic. Got a little shop of his own for stuff like this. Gin hit..." He suddenly became quiet.

"Hugo?" I gave him my best 'tell me or you'll get detention' look. It never seemed to fail with former students. It didn't fail.

"We were out driving a while back and she wasn't paying attention. Mione sent over a letter about wedding plans and it sent her off in one of her moods and she hit a tree."

"Oh. That's it? Just a tree?"

"Well, the tree did fall on a house."

"Yeah. Don't tell me any more. Let's go get a beer."

-ooo-

From the moment I locked up the Jeep I knew we were in trouble. Finding the Two Chopt section of town wasn't hard because the street signs all disappeared as well as any indication that the Muggle government was around. There were a few cars parked here and there but the distinct lack of No Parking signs or Bus Loading Zone signs made it feel like something out of a different era. The sign for the Spectral Rebel was easy to find, since the glowing sign stuck out like a sore thumb even in the bright Richmond daylight. The building itself was rather nondescript, but the sign? A pretty young witch who looked like one of the pinup girls from the 1940's but in a Confederate soldier's outfit, an arm raised above her head with a wand. Every so often the wand would pass in front of her head and body, disappearing the outfit and leaving her with only a smile and a set of tassels. Before you could look at her near nakedness for too long, though, she'd wave her wand and this time the uniform would be a Union soldier's outfit. Covering both bases, obviously. But most of all, Civil War sides taken out of the equation, it was obvious that it was more than your usual establishment.

"Hugo?" I looked over to him. "Is this a strip club?"

He gave me an odd look. "No, those are marked differently on the map." He fidgeted for a moment, shifting his weight from foot to foot and rubbed his chin with the last three fingers of his hand. "We can just go back to the hotel."

"Come on, let's go see."

We walked up to the entrance where a large wizard in a suit that wouldn't have looked out of place in the early 1900's stood with a walking stick.

"Gentlemen, gentlemen, welcome to the Spectral Rebel, the east coast's finest magical burlesque review! For only two Galleons each amusements of all kinds for your edification and amusement!"

"Sure." I reached into my pocket and gave him the Galleons. "Here you go."

The man tapped the head of his walking stick on the doors, opening them widely, allowing music to spill out. As we walked in to the dark building lights began to illuminate themselves along the wall, old gaslamp-looking things that were obviously lit by magical light. As the path descended towards the source of the music I looked over to Hugo.

"For the love of Merlin, don't..."

"Tell Melody." He laughed. "Got it. And don't tell..."

"I won't tell Gin."

Hugo gave me an odd look. "Gin? She'd probably love this place. No, don't tell Mum. I'd never hear the end of it."

I took a look around the room. The stage took prominence, obviously, at it extended all the way across the back wall and then out into the center of the room. Tables surrounded the stage, some filled with wizards, some with the occasional witch, a few single people at tables, but one table right up front was funny as it consisted entirely of young witches where were obviously out on a bachelorette/hen night thing. One dark-headed girl wore a tiara and a sash that said 'Bride' in flashing red letters.

I elbowed Hugo. "Maybe we should send for the rest of the guys. Give you a surprise stag night."

He shook his head. "No. Think I'll skip that."

I'd heard that tone before, the same tone that he'd used when he'd informed me he'd misplaced his Muggle Studies assignments. "Really? Still doesn't work, Hugo."

"Dammit." He pointed to a table against the wall, one of the furthest from the stage. After we got to the table and sat down he looked at me. "How do you do that? Some special thing Hogwarts does for professors?"

I shook my head. "No, I've just known you too long, Hugo."

"Bloody hell."

"Don't worry, learned my lesson. You boys have fun at the stag night, I'll be skipping that one."

The waitress came by, wearing not a lot of clothing, and Hugo smiled and ordered us a pitcher of beer from a local wizarding brewery. Once the waitress left I looked at him and shook a finger. "Three beers, Hugo."

"We'll get three each out of the pitcher, more or less."

Before I could say anything the lights went dark except for a spotlight on the stage. The curtains flew back and a young woman came out, her dark eyes accentuated by the makeup, a sequined headband with feathers on her head like some flapper from the 1920's and bare arms and legs. That's what we could see, anyway, because she had two fans made out of large feathers that she used to hide all the important bits. We must have watched her for a bit because when I turned back to the table our beer was waiting for us.

I poured a beer and slid it over to Hugo. As I poured my beer I watched Hugo. His attention was to the girl onstage, but in a manner that someone watches TV when they're in a waiting room and they can't change the channel. I reached over and nudged him. "Beer?"

"Fuck yes." He took the beer and downed a good portion of it. "Sorry."

"For what, cursing?" I laughed. "You know better than that, Hugo. It's me."

He nodded. "And that's kind of the problem."

"Wait, what? Me?" I lowered my voice, concerned. "Ok, what the fuck's going on, Hugo?"

He took a drink and wiped the foam away with the back of his hand. "You're kind of hard to live up to, Hank."

"Me? Me? Hugo, your parents...and Harry, I mean...shit. That I get, with everything they've done. But me?"

He took a deep breath. "You get along with pretty much everyone. You're sort of, I don't know, I mean, you came to Hogwarts and didn't know anyone without any magic..." He looked embarrassed and quickly added "..at first, at first without magic, and then you get thrown into all this shite with the WLF and that crazy Palliurum bint and you still teach and had time to get married and have a great family. Kind of hard to live up to that."

"Live up to...fucking hell." I took a drink. "Hugo, let me give you a clue. Nobody measures up to their parents or their in-laws. Especially when you're starting out. Do you think me an Mel were always like this? Hell no. We've had our share of dustups on things. You learn to work it out. You know about that with your parents, shit, I've heard them go off on each other on things but they always work it out."

"And Harry and Ginny. I know, I know. Had a talk with Dad before I asked her to marry me and he said not to compare yourself with other couples, but what else can I do? I don't want to mess it up for Gin. Remember Christopher and Winters? Gryffindor, year ahead of me?"

I took a sip and sat back. "I believe I do. She's the girl with the long braid, big smile and sharp tongue and he's the Muggleborn who kicked a football all over the Hogwarts grounds. What about them?"

"They got married but it didn't last a year. Maybe...maybe Gin and I don't need to get married."

_Because if you don't get married you can't get divorced. _"Hugo, how old were you when you learned how to fly a broom?"

"What the hell does...oh. I get it." He shook his head. "But I fall off the broom a bunch and get back on it the only person it hurts is me. Nobody else."

I sat back in my chair and took another sip of beer. Contrary to what he thought, Hugo was getting cold feet, but not for the reasons most grooms feel that way. He didn't want to hurt my daughter and he was feeling insecure that he would ever live up to the examples of husbands that he knew. I felt proud that he'd included me into that group, but the boy simply looked miserable. I also knew what the kid had gone through in the war; Scorpius had come by the house one night and we'd sat in my office while he told the most horrible stories, they just seemed to spill out of him. Hugo'd never done that with me, exactly, he'd mentioned a few things here or there, but not any specific details.

"Weasley." I said it my best professor tone, which got the desired effect. He straightened up immediately in his chair, causing him to bump the table and rattle the pitcher and glasses for a brief moment. "Answer me truthfully. Do you love my daughter?"

"Yes!"

"Do you want to make her happy?"

"Yes!"

"Are you worthy of her?"

"Ah...um..."

I leaned across the table. "Listen here, Hugo. You're nervous because, well, your parents and Harry an' Ginny are something else. But I'm not them, we aren't, Mel and I aren't them. Nobody's like Arthur and Molly, that's for sure. Just because something works for one couple doesn't mean it'd work for others. I mean, hell, imagine what would have happened if I'd have married your mum."

That got his attention, as he laughed and took a big drink of beer. "You wouldn't have lasted a week. Smoking, language..."

"Exactly. But it works with Mel. Mostly works. It works, ok? Just be the best Hugo you can, that's all anyone ever expects."

"But what if I'm too messed up? You know, after the war..."

"Jesus, Hugo. If anyone had a right to be 'messed up' it'd be your parents. Harry and Ginny? Fucking hell, Hugo, you don't think they just came out of that, said 'Welp, old Voldemort's gone, everything's peachy-fucking-keen now, let's have a bunch of babies and live happily ever after' do you? Damn. Took them years to get through it all, together. You can do it too. Doesn't mean it'll be easy but Gin..."

The waitress stopped back over with another pitcher of beer and menus. "Next show's on in twenty minutes. Y'all want to order from the kitchen? Got crab legs on special."

I looked over and Hugo was intently studying the table. "Sure, tell you what, bring us two orders of crab legs, the big ones. Oh, hey, can I smoke in here?"

"Sure thing, sweetie." She leaned over, brushing Hugo with her barely contained bosom, and flicked her wand at the center of the table. A small cylinder rose up with an ashtray in the center. Another flick and I heard a small hum. She smiled at me and then looked over at Hugo. "Why you so glum, chum? Girl break your heart?"

Hugo blinked a few times and then glanced up at her. "What? Oh, no, sorry. Getting married tomorrow. Heart's fine, thank you. Sorry."

"Ooh, a British boy getting married." She smiled and then planted a big kiss on his cheek. "Congratulations! Pitcher's on the house. Be right back with your order."

I watched the waitress make her way through the tables, stopping at the hen party, and then move on. Hugo was still in a funk. "Hugo, listen son. You and Gin have been through a lot, doesn't mean it'll be clear sailing from here on out, never is..." I took a drink. "_Ay me! For aught that I could ever read, could ever hear by tale or history, the course of true love never did run smooth."_

He looked up to me. "Ok, who said that?"

"Lysander."

"Scamander?" He gave me an odd look. "Honestly?"

"Well, sort of. Not Scamander, but Lysander in Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream.' Happily ever after only occurs in fairy tales. Muggle kid stories, you know what I mean. Happier ever after, well, that's more realistic." I reached into my pocket, pulled out a smoke and lit it. Happily the smoke was immediately sucked into the cylinder on the table, some sort of magical smoke sucking thing so that it only affected our table. "That's brilliant."

Hugo looked up at me and gave me a smile that seemed to slowly spread until he was grinning from ear to ear. "That is brilliant, professor. Happier ever after."

I pointed a finger at him. "And listen to me, you little Gryffindor shit. You are good enough. You volunteered, don't wave me off, you volunteered. And I know, I know you'll never be able to forget some of the things that you went through, but remember what it was like when you came back and saw her. Remember all the things that happened with you two, the ring, all that stuff. For fuck's sake, Hugo, you're an Auror. I did the very, very beginnings of that training and it kicked my ass. You're smart, don't look at me like that, you are. More importantly, to me, you have a good heart. I'm happy as hell you're marrying Gin." I took a big drink of beer and poured myself another. "Don't ever let her know I said this but you're probably the only one who could deal with her when she gets like, well, you know how she is. Goddamn she was a pain in the ass as a kid. You two work together, you just do. If you were a clone of your Dad or Harry do you think it'd work? Right, don't answer, we both know it wouldn't."

Hugo shrugged his shoulders, nodded, and poured another beer. "She, Merlin don't tell anyone, but Gin kind of reminds me of Mum." He took another drink. "Smart, scary smart sometimes, very opinionated, doesn't take a lot of shit..."

I laughed. "Yeah, I can see that. But your mom just cuts people down politely while Gin..."

"Gin just tells 'em to fuck off."

I nodded. "Yep, that's my daughter."

Hugo nodded, took a sip of beer and leaned closer as the music started up again. "So, I guess tomorrow then, huh?"

I couldn't reply because all of the sudden the spotlight focused directly on our table. After I put my hand up to see the master of ceremonies came out. "Ladies and gentlemen, not only do we have a wonderful lady getting married tomorrow..." cheers sprang up from the hen party table "...but we have a war hero, all the way from magical Britain, and he's getting married tomorrow too!"

Hugo's head whipped around at me. "Hank?"

"No fucking clue, Hugo." I waved at him and smiled as the hen party girls came over, grabbed him out of his seat and drug him onstage with the girl in the bride sash and tiara. They sat them in chairs and then the music kicked in. Dancers with fans and other items danced around, exposing certain body parts, rubbing shoulders and thighs on poor Hugo. He looked embarrassed but played along nicely. Eventually, though, the song was over and the bride disappeared with her friends. Hugo started to make his way down off of the stage but instead was levitated up into a ornate looking chair which was 'carried' by six women in, well, certain bits were covered. They deposited him at our table, each of them giving him a kiss on the cheek.

He sat down and before I could say anything, before I could ask him about anything, our food arrived and that was the end of that.

-ooo-

When we got back to the hotel Hugo looked over to me, nervous. I clapped a hand on his shoulder and smiled. "No worries, Hugo. None at all."

"Thanks."

We'd made it back to the swimming pool, which was the unofficial meeting spot for everyone, when James, Albus and HR came over, dressed to go out. James had the look in his eye that usually led to detentions.

"There you are! C'mon, Hugo, we're taking you out." He turned to me. "What'd you do, drive him around and pointed out all the recording player shops and places you used to mope over girls?"

"It's record player, and they haven't had those in ages." I rolled my eyes at James. "And I know you did that deliberately because you borrowed an album from me which I have yet to get back, Mr. Potter."

"Oh, uh, yeah, well, Alice likes it." James winked at Albus. "Ok, Hugo, come on, boy, we've got just the place for you. Someplace the old duffers like Hank here wouldn't think of going. Al found it, it's perfect."

I looked over to Albus. "Perfect, eh?"

Al nodded. "Don't worry, Hank, I know your stories. It's not a strip club, just a new little burlesque place. I know a dancer, she worked on one of my films. It's her club."

I glanced over at Hugo and watched as he struggled to look surprised. "Oh go on, Hugo. Can't be as boring as our morning."

Hugo silently mouthed 'thank you' to me before he turned and walked away with the others. As I watched them walk away Mel came up to me and handed me Artie. "I'm so glad you're back, Hank. Someone has been waiting to get into the pool with you."

"Great idea." I ruffled Arties hair. "Submarines or..."

"GODZIRRA!" Artie held up his Godzilla toy.

"Godzilla it is, then." I sat him down. "Go get your towel and WALK, ARTIE. NO RUNNING."

Melody took her glasses off and let them hang around her neck on the thin silver chain. "How was your morning with Hugo? Gin said he was acting kind of nervous. Is everything all right?"

I nodded. "Yep, everything's fine. Hugo's good."

She leaned over and sniffed me. "Cigarettes and beer. I should have known."

"Mmmm, little more to it than that. I'll tell you later."


	8. Gin and Hugo: Meant to Be

**Chapter 8: Gin and Hugo – Meant to Be**

It was a very nice, clear and bright morning, a good omen for the day. The hotel bed was incredibly comfortable, some sort of charm on it that made it the perfect softness or firmness or whatever you wanted, so I slept like a rock. Surprisingly I made it up before Melody, so I got dressed and made my way down to the hotel restaurant. The only fly in the ointment was that I woke up at the fucking crack of dawn so I knew it was going to be a long day. Coffee, really strong coffee was going to be required.

The moment I walked into the restaurant I had to stifle a laugh because there, at the table the furthest away from the window, were Hugo, James, Scorpius, Al and HR. They looked like shit. Hugo had on sunglasses and was leaning over his coffee cup like he might fall in, HR sat back with his eyes closed and his head resting against the wall, Scorpius had his head on the table, Al had on a baseball cap jammed low over his head and was very, very slowly eating something while James sat with his head lowered and rubbed his temples with his hands. Time for a bit of fun.

I walked over, pulled the chair out from under my son's legs, sat down and used the 'good morning, class' voice. "Beautiful day out, boys, beautiful. You know, I think I'm up for some greasy eggs. Maybe a bit of bacon, hope it's greasy, too. And screw coffee, maybe I'll start out with a firewhiskey.'

"Good God, don't say that." Scorpius moaned. "No more firewhiskey."

"Shut up, Dad." HR opened an eye. "Seriously, shut up."

"What time is it?" Al moved his head very slowly towards me. "No, don't tell me."

I chuckled. "It's a little past six in the morning."

"Six? Fuck." James didn't raise his head, he just kept rubbing his temples. "What time's the wedding again?"

I laughed. "You guys are screwed. What time did you get in?"

Mumbles went about the table until the consensus was that the last time anyone remembered looking at the clock it was around half four in the morning.

The waitress came by and I ordered a triple espresso and a danish. After she left I looked at them. "Ok, I hope Lily's made up her usual batch of hangover potions because you're going to need it."

HR shook his head slowly. "They're in our room, and Lils said if we stayed out too late it was our own fault. If I wake Artie I'm dead."

"Well, you look like death warmed over, son." I picked up a croissant off of Scorpius' plate. "I'm guessing you're not gonna eat that. OK, you guys need to get your shit together or it's going to be trouble. I've been where you are, trust me. When my little brother got married I got shitfaced the night before and..."

"Stuck your face in Lavender Boyd's tits." James nodded. "We know."

"Shut up, James. Yes, that happened and she wasn't my sister-in-law yet, but that's beside the point. If you all look like this...shit, you guys are gonna be screwed. Tell you what, let me have my breakfast and I'll help you out. Hopefully nobody else will see y'all like this. I'm guessing this has to be a pretty good story, so you can pay me back by filling me in. Don't move."

I laughed at my own joke, got up from the table and headed out to the lobby to the concierge's desk. I explained that I needed ten hangover potions and the same number of Pepper Up potions delivered as soon as possible to the table. The concierge, an older man who looked like he'd seen it all and kept everyone's secrets, assured me that he would contact the premier potion maker in Two Chopt and would have some delivered immediately. I said to charge it to James' room, since I figured this was probably all his fault. I also asked him if he could put up a screen or do something to hide the table from the other restaurant patrons. Not that there were any at that time, but just in case.

I picked up a paper on my way back into the restaurant and when I got back nothing had changed, nobody had apparently moved but my triple espresso and danish had been delivered so I took a sip, a bite and then opened the paper.

"Not so loud." Hugo slowly adjusted his sunglasses. "Please."

"Opening the paper is too loud?" I folded the paper over so I could read it with one hand. "Fucked, you guys are fucked. Help should be on the way shortly, though." I took a look at my watch. The wedding was supposed to take place at two in the afternoon, so hopefully they'd have enough time to get their shit together. "Where are you supposed to get ready?"

"No clue." Hugo took off his sunglasses and exposed his bloodshot eyes. "Gin. No plans."

"Right." I took another sip of espresso. It felt damn good, strong, and just what they needed. I flagged down the waitress and ordered them all the same thing. "Ok, boys, your espressos should be coming up shortly, I know, a poor Muggle imitation of a Pepper Up, but those are on the way along with some hangover potions."

A wizard came over to the table and asked me if this was the table that required privacy. I must have given him a 'you're shitting me, right' look because he nodded and soon walls began to spring up around us with a door off behind me. Without a word the man let himself out of the door, closing it very softly and darkening the area considerably.

"Oh, much better." Scorpius lifted his head off of the table and looked up. "Were there walls here before?"

"No, there weren't. I had them give us some privacy. What would happen if your parents came down and saw the sorry ass state you boys are in?" I laughed, imaginging Hermione's apoplexy. "Ok, so I think a story is in order. Last thing I remember you guys grabbed Hugo and said you were going to the Spectral Rebel."

"Oh yeah, the first place." Albus nodded and looked at me. "How do you know about that..."

I waved him off. "Doesn't matter. So that was the first place, eh?"

"Bloody fucking hell." Hugo groaned. "It was a madhouse. Place was packed, another hen night was in there, they recognized Al, some bird he knows works there, I don't even know how much we spent..."

"Shanice." Al took off his cap and rubbed a hand through his hair. "She was a dancer on 'Moonlight Ride.' She's all right."

"Yeah, but her friends?" James pulled a face. "Practically threw themselves at us. I mean, I like boobs..." That led to a bunch of smart-assed comments from everybody until James shut them up. "Right, well established, fuck off. I'm married to Alice now, so those days are over. But they just..."

"Here." Scorpius reached into his pocket and handed me a crumpled bunch of pictures. "Took us forever to convince the bloke to give them to us."

I smoothed out the pictures and couldn't quite contain my mirth. James wasn't lying, the dancers were all over the boys. Yes, you couldn't quite see all the bits, magical pasties, I guessed, but it sure didn't leave much to the imagination. And Hugo, poor Hugo, right in the middle of everything wearing a shirt that said 'Kiss Me, I'm the Groom.' It was obvious that he wasn't quite enjoying the attention. Several other pictures including one girl...well, let's just say she was enthusiastic about Al and leave it at that. The last picture, though, that was the interesting one, as I could see several rather angry men trying to get to the boys.

"Looks like some of the other men in the place weren't too happy with you guys."

"Fuck." James pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. "Mad at us for stealing all the women. Wasn't our fault, shit like this always happens when Puddlemere guys go to clubs. Didn't think it'd happen here."

"James." I felt like I was back in Muggle Studies explaining to him that cars need people to drive them. "You're a professional Quidditch player and have been on the English national team. Albus is in the fucking movies, everybody sees those. You two..." I pointed to Hugo and Scorpius "...your parents are famous worldwide and HR? Sorry, son, but you married the only daughter of Harry and Ginny Potter. That wedding was...stuff was in all the papers. People know who you guys are. Ok, so was there a fight?"

"Almost." Hugo groaned. "Or was there?"

"I punched a git." Scorpius ran the fingers from his left hand across his right hand.

"Right, there was a fight." HR nodded. "Out in the alley before we could Apparate away. Hugo missed it because he was vomiting."

At that moment there was a light knock on the door and the waitress entered with the espressos. After she left I made the boys all take a sip, most of them pulling faces except for Al. "Ok, you got in a fight. Obviously you look like you won, so I won't go into that. What next?"

"Was it that house party?" Hugo looked over to HR.

HR shook his head slowly. "No, that was after we got out of jail."

"Jail?" I pushed my glasses onto the top of my head rapidly. "What the fuck?"

James held up his hands to placate me. "It's fine, it's fine. Nothing happened, really. I had to take a slash and I might have gone on some statue."

"Statue?" I looked over to Hugo, as he knew Richmond better than anyone else.

He took a deep sigh. "Robert E. Lee."

"Holy fucking hell, James." I couldn't speak for a moment. "You have no idea what..."

"Yeah, I found out." James sighed. "Luckily the AAB stuff worked out. You know, our names in the AAB, whatever they do, anyway we got stuck in the Muggle Auror cars and they took us down to jail. Before anything could happen some AAB blokes came by and got us all out."

"That's when the real drinking started." Al shook his head. "They all know about Dad, obviously, so one of the blokes said his shift was done and he had to have a drink with us and hear all the stories so we went back to his house. Turned into a big AAB party. Then we came back here."

Luckily for the boys another knock was heard on the door and this time the waitress entered bearing elixirs of life, otherwise known as hangover potions and Pepper Up potions. I thanked her, signed the receipt as 'James Sirius Potter' and gave her a generous tip. As they downed the potions I finished the last of my breakfast and folded up the paper.

"Ok, I suggest you find some way to make yourselves human before everything starts. And for God's sake, take a shower. You guys stink. Anything else I should know?"

"I got another tattoo."

"Great, Al. Great. You know what? Never mind, I don't want any more details. Jesus, just...go take care of yourselves."

-ooo-

On my way back up to the room I met Mel and Ron coming down, so I joined them. Hell, another cup of coffee or stronger wouldn't hurt. My wife, predictably, was still in a constant, low-grade tizzy about the lack of plans. Ron, on the other hand, wasn't fussed at all. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying it a bit too much, as every now and then he'd ask Mel something about the wedding, shit he already knew, like what he should wear. He'd do in nonchalantly between bits, Mel would go off, and he'd just nod at her. Bastard wouldn't even look at me when she was going off on how she felt unprepared. It was after the third or fourth of Ron's questions that I finally got it. She wasn't really that upset about the plans, after all, my wife could roll with the punches, it was that she wasn't involved in the plans. With HR and Minnie's weddings she was involved, not to mention Mione's giant production, but with Gin it was the hand's off approach that was bothering her. I stewed over it for a while, but when Ginny, Harry and Hermione came down to join us I used the need for one more chair at the table to excuse myself, begging off that I'd already had breakfast and was going to go sit in the sun for a bit.

I made my way up to Gin's room, paused for a moment, then knocked.

"Hugo if that's you BUGGER OFF!" It was Alice Potter's voice.

"No, it's not Hugo."

A few minutes later the door opened revealing Alice standing there, looking like she'd been run over by a truck. Her hair was a mess, she had on a wrinkled t-shirt and a pair of shorts.

"Alice, my dear, you look lovely."

"Oh, sorry, Hank. Didn't want Hugo to see her before the wedding. Bad luck and all that."

I laughed. "Um, if that's the case, how are we going to get to the picnic?"

"Bollocks." Alice scrunched up her nose. "I guess you want to see Gin?"

"If I could please."

"Just a tic."

The door closed and I heard rustling from behind the door. A few moments later my daughter appeared in a Cannons t-shirt and baggy gym shorts. "Something wrong, Dad?"

"Well, I wouldn't say wrong, exactly. Let's go sit by the pool for a bit."

She sighed. "What's wrong with Mum now?"

"Virginia." I took off my glasses. "Please?"

"Fine." She walked back into the hotel room, picked up some flip-flops from the floor and slid into them. After closing the door behind her her shoulders sagged. "For the love of Salazar please tell me you have some fags."

"Remember where you are, hon. Yes, I have some cigarettes left. Come on."

We made our way down to the pool and since there was a prominent NO SMOKING sign we exited the area through a small gate and went over to the bench by the fountain that was the designated smoking area. I reached into my shorts and pulled out a half-crumpled pack of smokes, fished out the lighter and handed them to her. She quickly lit one, exhaled, and gave me a rather put-out look.

"So what's Mum's problem now?"

"Virginia Pauline. Really?" I took the pack back from her and lit one. "Yes, your Mom has a problem. The problem is that she feels hurt that she's been left out."

"Left out?"

"Yes, left out. She helped with Lily and HR, with Minnie and Alan, and God knows she went through shit with Mione, but I think it's hurt her that you don't need her."

"I don't need her? For fuck's sake." Gin shook her head and lifted her hand up to take another drag, her bracelets jingling and shining in the sun. "Dad, after all the shit she went through with everyone else I thought she deserved a break. I mean, Merlin, Mione's wedding alone was enough to drive me over the edge."

"Did you ever tell her that?" I watched as the realization slowly crept over her face. "Got it now, huh? Don't worry, I just figured it out at breakfast thanks to your future father-in-law." I paused for a moment. "And it's hard, sweetie, because you;re the last one. You'll realize this someday when you have kids, but when your last child gets married it's...it's hard. Yeah, I know I'm old, but this just fucking cements it. And after everything that happened with you and Hugo, the nights when we didn't know where you were, all the shit that you guys went through..."

"I get it." Her voice was soft. "I do."

"Trust me, I'm glad you guys aren't doing the big wedding thing. Helluva lot cheaper for me, that's for sure, but that really isn't the point. Weddings are a celebration, and girlie, you and Hugo have a lot to celebrate. But for me and your mom, it's...you're a lot like me, you know. Sometimes I have to laugh because, well..." I lifted up my cigarette. "Promise me you won't keep smoking. I know, I'm a hypocrite but I'm your Dad. I'm entitled. To be honest, for me and your mom weddings are a bit of a chance to show off, to say, 'look, we raised a great kid and now they're an adult and they're getting married and not in Azkaban or hooked on drugs or whatever.' I know, I know, it's your wedding, but it's also a chance for people to be happy for you two."

As everything was sinking in the clouds began to form, quickly. I knew that the plan was for everyone to go for a picnic, and rain would definitely end that. Hopefully she had a backup plan but knowing my daughter...

"Dad?" She reached over and took my hand. "Thanks."

I pulled her up, tossed the cigarette on the ground and wrapped her in a hug. I felt her arms tight around me. "You're welcome, honey. You're welcome." We stayed like that for a moment until I felt the first tiny drops of rain. "Please tell me you have a Plan B."

-ooo-

I stood inside the hotel lobby, looking out the window with my brothers, Ron and George Weasley as the rain pelted down in torrents. A quick look at my watch and it was readily apparent that a picnic wedding at Maymont was not in the cards as it was almost eleven and the rain looked like it wasn't going to letup anytime soon.

"So what's the backup plan?" Nate looked over at me. "Let me guess, there isn't one."

"Fuck off, Nate."

"Kiss my ass, Hank."

George leaned over to Ron. "Worth the portkey, right here."

I flipped him the bird. "Fuck you too, Weasley."

"Hold on there." Ron held up his hand. "That's going to be your daughter in a few hours. She's going to be a Weasley too."

"Merlin help her." George pretended to pray to the heavens.

"You guys suck." I pushed my glasses on to the top of my head. "Hey Ron, why don't you go ask if there's an update."

He gave me an odd look. "Why me?"

"Because the last time I asked for an update I got shooed out of there faster than...just go, dipstick."

"Fine." He rolled his eyes at me and headed off to the elevator.

We all ended up sitting in the leather club chairs in the lobby, somehow ending up as the welcoming committee for the other invited wedding guests. My parents showed up, Dad complaining about the traffic as usual. Mary Caroline, Gin's partner in the art galleries and Mary Caroline's husband Finn not too long after that, as well as Mary Caroline's parents. Arthur and Molly came down from their room, both of them happy as clams despite the weather, and after that the deluge wasn't just limited to rain. All of the other Weasley clan were down there and eventually it was as if we had taken over the whole hotel lobby as well as an entire floor of rooms. Most of the guests and wedding party had drifted down to the lobby, including James,HR, and Albus, all looking much better than they had earlier that morning. Despite the party-like feel to the lobby for some reason I felt, well, just kind of there. As usual, it was Arthur that brought it all into perspective.

"It isn't easy, Hank." Arthur put his hand on my shoulder. "But you should be proud. Just think of how well you've done, three daughters and a son. It isn't easy letting go, but as we once did...now it's their turn."

"You're right. It isn't easy."

"Here." He handed me a small flask and put his finger to his lips. "Not a word to Molly, please."

I chuckled, took the flask from Arthur and nodded. "Of course." After a swig of firewhiskey I handed it back to him. "That was a surprise."

He tipped the flask towards me and took a small pull. "Molly's been beside herself. She's so happy for the two of them."

Surprisingly conversation around us seemed to stop so Arthur quickly hid his flask. After a few moments I realized why everyone was quiet, as Gin stood near the edge of the impromptu party. As I suspected she hadn't had a Plan B but Hermione, unsurprisingly, had figured things out. The Magnolia had hosted its share of weddings and she had simply gone to the manager and asked if it was possible to have the wedding at the hotel. Luckily the facilities weren't completely booked, so even if it was rather rushed we'd have the wedding there. It also made things easier since the original plan was for everybody to meet at the hotel and then go to Maymont, since most if not all of the guests wouldn't know where it was. That only left one problem; the time. The facilities were booked that afternoon and the earliest we could have the wedding was at seven that evening, and she had owled the officiant and unfortunately he was not available as he had another wedding at that time in Roanoke. As the conversation suddenly broke out about what to do a sharp bang was heard from the corner of the room, quieting everyone.

James stood there with his wand in his hand. "Not a problem, I've got this."

Hermione looked at him oddly. "What on earth do you mean?"

I watched as James reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet and a few moments later brandished a card in his hand. "I just so happen to be..." He looked at the card. "...I am 'licensed to perform weddings in the United Kingdom, the UMS, and any other magical country that were signatories on the Bond Unification Process treaty of 1999.' So there, that's sorted."

Of course that led to a lot of questions, so for a few moments James regaled everyone with the story of how he'd unsuspectingly been licensed and performed the wedding of one of his Puddlemere teammates. I looked over to Harry, who had somehow ended up standing next to me.

"Harry?"

"I've heard it before. Sort of forgot about it, to be honest. That was before Alice when Ginny and I thought...let's just say it's a James thing and leave it at that, shall we?"

"Ah." I nodded. "This was when he was..."

"Shagging all those fit birds?" George stuck his hand around and flicked Harry's ear. "That's when you started going grey, isn't it?"

"Fuck off, George."

Harry and I looked at each other as we'd said it simultaneously.

-ooo-

After the crowd had thinned down and people wandered off to the bar or the restaurant or their rooms I made my way back upstairs to see how Mel was doing but, surprisingly, she wasn't in the room. I then went over to HR an Lily's room but nobody answered the door. After trying Minnie and Alan's room, then Mione and Scorpius' room and not finding anyone in I had an idea of where they were and I was right. When I knocked on Gin's door Minnie answered, looking happy.

"Hi Dad. We're all in here."

She opened the door and there they all were. HR sat in the chair by the TV, Artie on his lap watching cartoons. Gin sat on the bed, her back against the wall and legs outstretched while Mel sat next to her. Mione had a photo album in her hands and sat cross-legged on one of the chairs. There they all were, my family. It seemed so long ago that Mel and I were at Colony House with all of them, before they went to Hogwarts, before they were sorted into each of the four houses. Gin smiled at me and patted the bed next to her. I sat down next to her, stretched out my legs and kicked off my shoes before giving her a kiss on the head.

"Sorry about your picnic, Gin. But you know life..."

She put her head on my shoulder. "Is what happens when you're busy making plans. John Lennon, right?"

I nodded. "Thought you were a Stones girl."

She shrugged. "The Beatles aren't all bad."

"Godric. You two and the music thing." Mione rolled her eyes. "Here, Dad, remember this?" She scooted off the chair and handed me the photo album.

I took a look at the picture and laughed. It was Christmas at Forthingsgate when Gin was going through her Goth phase, as her hair was black, her clothes were black and she looked like she was dying. She sat on the sofa with her brother and sisters, as far away from them as possible. Mel and I stood in the back of the sofa along with Lane. I remembered that picture very well, as over eggnog after the presents had all been opened up my mother-in-law told me not to worry about Gin, as she was only doing what children had been doing from time began, rebelling against their parents, and that it would all work out fine in the end.

"I do, remember, quite well. Your Grandmother would be very proud of you, Gin. I'm sure she's looking down and is very happy for you."

Gin fingered the bangles around her wrist, gifts from Lane. "I know, Dad. I think of her all the time. I wish she could be here."

Mel took Gin's hand. "I do, too, sweetie. I do, too."

For the next hour or so we all talked about things we remembered as we looked through the photo album. HR was teased about his running off and eloping with Lily and his second, subsequent and official wedding. Minnie's wedding, and her telling off of her husband's grandparents in Welsh was recounted, and everyone had a good time telling Mione just how much of a pain in the ass she was for her wedding with Scorpius. Before we knew it, though, time had sped by, evident by a knock on the door revealing Draco Malfoy with a fussy Karen Malfoy. Mione took her from him, excused herself and went to the bathroom as it was obviously time for a feeding for my baby granddaughter.

Melody fixed Draco with a glare. "I trust at this wedding reception I won't find you and my husband drunk and singing again?"

Draco nodded solemnly. "No, I don't believe we will make that a tradition. Not until Karen's wedding. At that time all bets are off."

Mel shrugged. "I can live with that."

"Agreed." Draco looked at me. "I would stay and chat but it appears that Astoria wishes me to return soon so she can dress. It is almost time."

"Holy shit." I took a look at my watch. "You're right."

Draco said his goodbyes and then I turned to Gin. "Ok, girlie, it's almost show time. Ready?"

"Yep." Her voice was confident. "I am." She turned to Minnie. "You got everything, didn't you?"

Minnie shook her head. "Of course. He was more than happy to help."

"What?" I turned to Minnie. "What are you talking about?"

"Dad." She gave me an 'I'm being an idiot' look. "Of course we can get things ready in a flash. We're witches, remember? Plus we had some help."

"Let me guess, Hermione?"

HR leaned over with an almost sleeping Artie in his arms. "No, Dad. The other member of the family."

It took me a moment but then I got it. He'd been a part of the family from the get-go; hell, he'd been with me longer than I'd been with Mel. I didn't know why I hadn't thought of it before. I cleared my throat. "Nonky?"

With a quick POP the house elf stood before me. "Professor Muggle needs Nonky? Does Mistress Virginia need something Nonky can do?"

I nodded solemnly, stole a glance at Gin and turned back to the elf. "Yes, Nonky, I do need something. I need, well, we all do, we need you to be here for the wedding. After all, you're family to us."

In all the years that Nonky had been with us we'd mostly cured him of the stereotypical house elf wailing and carrying on, we'd figured out how to phrase things so he wouldn't ram his head into the refrigerator or take euphemistic phrases literally. But the moment I told him he was family the old house elf just burst into tears. The kids tried to calm him down, but each of their attempts just seemed to set him off on another bout of tears and exclamations that we were all too good to him. Artie woke up and was kind of cranky, which made Nonky a bit quieter, but when Mione came in from the bathroom with a sleeping Karen the elf clammed up tight. Mione, who always seemed to have a closer bond with Nonky than the rest of the kids for some reason, asked him to hold Karen for a bit so he hopped up on one of the chairs, with a snap of his fingers turned it into a rocking chair and sat there rocking my granddaughter, his ears flopping slightly with each movement back and forth, his eyes still wet with tears that I knew were happy tears. It was only the fact that if he broke out again it would wake Karen that he made it through Gin telling him that he would sit with the rest of the family at the wedding.

As HR took Artie to go get ready I turned to Mel. "Come on, we need to go." Before we could leave though Gin pulled us both into a hug. Nobody said anything. After a few moments Mel and I left and walked back to our room hand in hand.

When we got in the room I looked at my wife. "So what am I supposed to wear? I was just going to do the nice khakis and..."

"It's sorted, love." She opened the closet and brought out my light grey suit. "Gin and I...we figured it out."

-ooo-

James Potter may be a smirking little shit who makes me want to pinch his head off just because, but dammit the kid did a wonderful wedding ceremony. As I sat there and watched as my daughter and Hugo took their vows I couldn't but think about how different the whole wedding was compared to what it was supposed to be. Before it was going to be a picnic in the park, very informal and low key, but instead it turned out to be something quite beautiful. The ballroom had been turned into a riot of flowers, the bridesmaids all wore pretty but tasteful dresses, the groomsmen all wore Muggle suits and I got to walk Virginia down the aisle. The fact that it was all put together at the last minute was astonishing, but it didn't hurt that ninety percent or more of everybody in attendance had magic. Nonky sat next to Mel, holding Karen the whole time, and I'm not sure who went through more handkerchiefs, him or my wife. I took a glance across the aisle at Ron and Hermione and caught Hermione's eye and I could tell that she couldn't be happier. The vows...damn. Obviously Gin and Hugo didn't write them down, as there were a couple of pauses, but each of them said what was in their hearts. Hagrid's usual honk in to his handkerchief at the back wasn't the only one, that was for sure.

And James? Obviously, finally getting married had improved him as there wasn't a sarcastic comment through the whole ceremony. Sure, when it came time to do the official part he read it off the back of his license card, but before that he did a little talk about love and marriage and how when you find the most important thing in the world you do whatever you can to hold on to that and never let it go. That set Ginny off with a few tears, causing a few quiet laughs, as there were quite a few times that she had bemoaned the fact that James and Alice lived together for years without getting married.

Then, almost before you knew it, the ceremony was over. They kissed, a bright white light enveloped them and James introduced Mr. and Mrs. Hugo Weasley. I don't think I'd ever seen my daughter smile so brightly in her life as she made her way down the aisle in Melody's wedding dress. That had been a surprise to everyone, the dress. I'll admit it, it made me tear up when she came into the room for me to walk her down the aisle wearing that dress; the second that Mel saw her that was when the waterworks started.

As I escorted my wife back down the aisle I saw so many familiar faces reflecting my happiness back to me, faces that I'd known for years. Like each of the kids' weddings walking with Mel back through the guests I couldn't help but think back on how lucky I'd been. Lucky to have a weird old wizard suggest that I teach at Hogwarts, lucky that I had a friend like Neville Longbottom to help me out every step of the way, lucky that I had friends like Ron and Harry that helped me get through all the stupid shit with the WLF, lucky that everyone survived the damn war, lucky that my kids had all met wonderful spouses and I had great in-laws, lucky that a crazy little house elf had attached himself to me...lucky that I'd met people who should have been there like Minerva McGonagall and most of all my mother-in-law. But the luckiest part of everything was that the cute press secretary for a Quidditch club had agreed to go out with me, and luckier yet that she had agreed to marry me. The hell with my wand, that was the most magical thing that had ever or would ever happen to me.

We all took pictures, laughing, as Hugo wouldn't let go of Gin. I figured after all that the two of them had been through he just couldn't help it, so all of the pictures from the wedding that had Gin in them also had Hugo. Finally, though, the pictures were done and we went back into the ballroom, this time setup for the reception.

I had just walked in when I felt a hand clap me on the back and I turned to see Neville, beaming.

"All done, Hank. Can you believe it?"

"Not at all, Nev. Not at all."

"Here." He stuck out his hand. "The bloke at the shop said they were good ones. Figured you'd need it."

I took the cigars from him and laughed. "You're trying to get me in trouble."

"No." He was rather matter-of-fact about it. "You seem to do that quite well at wedding receptions."

"Fuck off, Longbottom."

"Fuck you, too, Hank."

That took me by surprise because, well, Neville never cursed. It was with that shocked look on my face that Bill Weasley made an appearance.

"What'd you do, Neville? Stun him?" He pushed a glass into my hands. "Here. It is tradition, after all."

I knew immediately what it was by the color. No other drink is that shade of blue. "Oh shit, a Special? You guys are just trying to get me in the doghouse."

"Nah." Bill shook his head. "I just gave one to your wife. You're good, mate."

Luckily I didn't have much time to complain because the first dance was announced, so I quickly downed the Special and made my way forward. After Hugo and Gin danced for a while Mel and I joined them, along with Ron and Hermione. Once the song was done everyone else joined in, and I danced with Gin. She didn't really say much, but I could tell how happy she was. When I danced with Hermione I could tell she was ecstatic.

"There were days I thought this would never happen, Hank."

"I know. Me too."

"Ron always did, though. He never lost faith."

I moved her slowly around the room. "Hate to tell you, and don't tell him I told you this, but your husband is actually a bit of a romantic." She didn't say anything, she just arched an eyebrow. "Trust me, when we got blitzed in New Orleans once and danced with some women he was as uncomfortable as all get out. Even after all these years, you're still the only one for him."

"I know." She smiled. "And think, Hank, you and Melody..."

"Yeah." The song ended so I gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Same here."

After that dance Scorpius' voice rang out around the ballroom, he'd done the whole magical megaphone or whatever spell and he announced it was time for the toasts. Mary Caroline, Gin's matron of honor, gave a sweet speech about Gin and Hugo and how they were meant for each other. That went over well, as Mary Caroline was there with Gin through everything, especially when Gin and Hugo got back together. After a nice round of applause, and a kiss between Hugo and Gin, Scorpius stood up.

"Some things are planned, some happen by chance, but the fact that there are two marriages in the same family between a Slytherin and a Gryffindor...that has to be fate. When Gin was sorted into my house at Hogwarts everyone was a little surprised, after all, she's the daughter of Professor Muggle, the man whose fame at horrible magic skills is known worldwide. But after she hexed the Prefect we all knew she was in the right house. As for Hugo? Well, if his first few girlfriends were any indication..."

Everyone laughed, as Hugo had dated a string of pretty but not very bright girls at Hogwarts. The rest of Scorpius' speech was very well done, as he manage to embarrass Hugo at least three times and make Hermione purse her lips. Apparently there were things that she didn't know about. Finally, though, he finished on a high note.

"I've had the good fortune to know both Mr. and Mrs. Weasley for years, and I can tell everyone without the shadow of a doubt that besides my lovely wife I can think of no two people who are so obviously made for each other. Here's to the bride and groom, may the happiness of this day stay with them the rest of their lives."

Drinks were raised, applause went around the room, and once again Gin and Hugo kissed. After that the music started back up again and the party began in earnest.

-ooo-

The moment I cracked open an eye I immediately knew it was not going to be a good morning. The room was entirely too bright. Way too fucking bright. I shifted, trying to get away from the window and got a mouthful of hair. I slowly opened my eyes to see Mel next to me, snoring away. After a few moments of trying to go back to sleep the insistent pounding in my head told me that it wasn't going to happen, so I eased my way out of bed and half-stumbled towards the bathroom. Unfortunately I had flicked on the lights by walking into the room, obviously some magical light switch or something, and the glare felt like I'd walked into a fucking Klieg light. The face in the mirror didn't look too good; bags under my eyes, I looked pale and what hair I still had was sticking up like I'd washed my hair and asked Harry for a broom ride to dry it.

A slow moan from the bed let me know that my wife was also awake and suffering along with me. I took care of nature and made my way back to the bed, half-falling into it.

"Helga save me. What happened?" Mel rolled over and put a hand to her head. "Are you this bad?"

"Maybe worse."

"What do you remember?"

I laid back and closed my eyes. "Shit, let me think. Gin and Hugo left for their honeymoon. Al and Delyth came over and brought a pitcher of Bill's Specials, then Harry and Ginny showed up with Neville and Hannah. They all brought pitchers of Bill's Specials, didn't they?"

"Uh-huh." Mel sort of moaned as she rolled over. "Ron made me go dance with him again."

"Right. Then George and Angelina showed up and...oh fuck, did we..."

"We did, Hank. We drank all of those Specials. They all brought Specials."

"And you were the one who told me to be good."

"Quiet. Merlin, my head."

I laid there for a while, feeling the veins throb in my head. "HR said Lily made up a bunch of hangover potions. I'll call their room." I got out of bed again and went over to the desk by the window, closing the drapes as tightly as possible to keep out the light. After a moment I remembered what the bellboy had shown me when we checked in, the small mirror on the desk. Hopefully it was charmed and didn't require magic to operate or else I'd be screwed. I tapped the mirror and it swirled into life. "Room 814." Luckily a few seconds later the other mirror came into focus with the face of my daughter-in-law. "Lily, thank God. Do you still have..."

She laughed. "Yes, Dad, I do. I'll send over HR."

"You're my favorite daughter-in-law."

"I'm your only daughter-in-law. He'll be right there as soon as he stops laughing."

The connection closed and I closed my eyes for a moment as my head was spinning. Once I could regain equilibrium I made my way back to the bed. "Lily..."

"I heard her, Hank."

We laid there for a few moments before I heard a quiet knock on the door. After shuffling towards the door I opened it a crack to see my son. He put his hand through the crack of the door, two wonderful hangover potions sparkling in his hand.

"Thanks."

"You're lucky, Dad. We were almost out."

"So we aren't the only ones?"

He laughed and adjusted his glasses. "Oh no, far from it. I'll tell you later."

"Works for me." After he waved goodbye I closed the door, downed one potion and went back to the bed, feeling almost immediately the effects of Lily's handiwork. "Here."

Mel propped herself up on an elbow, took the vial from me and drank it immediately. "Oh thank Merlin."

I laid there as the potion began its work. Then chuckled as I thought of something.

"What's so funny?"

I put out a hand and rested it on my wife's hip. "This is how things started, you know. Me waking up with you with a hell of a hangover."

"Mmmm." She exhaled deeply. "At least this time you didn't have on your kilt."

"Hey, I thought you liked the kilt. You bought me one, remember?"

"Shut up." She was quiet for a while and then I felt her hand cover mine, lacing her fingers into mine. "You were quite handsome in your kilt."

"So if I hadn't worn my kilt none of this would have happened, no marriage, no kids..."

"Maybe." She squeezed my hand. "Probably. Some things are just meant to be."

We stayed like that for quite a while as the potion did it's work. She was right; some things are just meant to be. I turned my head and then I saw it. She was definitely right, some things are just meant to be, just like the black high heel shoe stuck in the ceiling.


End file.
